Poetry Written by
  "The Men Who Were There"




Cpl. Conrad Russell, who died in 1961, was a Fourth Marine;
Company H, 2nd Battalion & Company I, 3rd Battalion.

This gifted writer is highly regarded as a
poetic spokesman of the Japanese-POW experience.
His poetry powerfully conveys the unfolding drama
as a fighting Marine and subsequently as a POW.


The Fall of Corregidor

The order came to strike all arms
That tragic and blood-soaked day.

A bell might have tolled for the island
But death has a silent way.

We felt that our souls had left us
Back in that screaming hell.

We stood with only our bodies
A drained and empty shell.

The silence that fell upon us
Was a strange unearthly pain.

I'm sure that God in Heaven
Will help us to live again.


~ ~ ~

HOPE

Hope is an angel in the darkest night;
She bathes my soul in heavenly light.

Lovely as Spring, Or the evening star
Now an activist from afar.

Will she be at my side through the coming strife
And give me strength to go on with life?

Or will she vanish like the glow in the west
And leave me forsaken?   God knows best.


~ ~ ~

Island Sunset

The sun retiring for a night of rest
Throws shafts of scarlet back from the west
Against the palms that pierce the sky
And nod in peace to the south-wind's sigh.

The ocean's roll sheens o'er the sand
A baby caressed by his mother's hand.
I think of the sunsets that passed before
To add beauty to this beach on Corregidor.


~ ~ ~

Corregidor Soliloquy

Will time ever end
What lies beyond space?

Is immortal life
The goal of this race?

Is this earthly body
Merely a clod .....as on this
Path of peril we trod?

Is each footstep spaced
by the Will of God?

O, Science, cruel surgeon
That cuts away the poet's dreams

And pulpits weight
Answers to these queries;

I will repose
In Elysian Fields
With the Red, Red Rose.







These two poems were received on February 11, 2003
from Walter Ladwig, Jr. of San Diego.
he writes:

"In 1946 I was a Pharmacist Mate 3/c (Hospital
Corpsman) stationed at The Great Lakes Naval Hospital.
In the jacket pocket of a Marine who passed away
at the hospital I found the following poems.
Would you know who the author might be?"

Members of the ADBC Webteam feel
certain that Conrad Russell is the author.
If there are readers who feel that this is not
Conrad Russell's poetry, please feel free to speak up.
Please E-Mail Us


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



The Dance

Death will dance at the battle tonight
For she's powdered her face a phosphorous white.
And sits on the hillside to primp and preen
And perfume herself with sweet gangrene.

She's packed her face with foxhole mud
And roughed her lips with clotted blood
To rub on the boys that hold her too tight
As they waltz along in the incendiary light.

Pompom will play, steel confetti will fall
And death to night will dance at the ball.
In the hills of Samat, on the beach at Bataan
She'll flirt with them all;  And have every man.


~ ~ ~

My Jailers

Day is the jailer, who locks the cell,
And carries the keys to my prison Hell;
Night is my champion, who will steal the Key,
And when day is gone, he will set me free.

While night keeps watch I am free to roam,
And he lends me dreams to carry me home;
Then day comes on and locks my door,
But night returns and I'm free once more.


~ ~ ~