My name is Lisa Beckenbaugh
and I am working on my PhD at the
University of Arkansas.
I am currently writing my dissertation on American POWs of the Japanese and the circumstances of survival. POWs attribute their survival to many different internal and personal things, but there are some outside forces that seemed to have had an effect on rates of survival. I am looking at some of those outside forces.
I have been reading many memoirs, autobiographies, and accounts of survivors, but a lot of them do not address the issues I am targeting. So, I thought it would be helpful for me if I went to the source - the former POWs themselves. Being a graduate student I am on a rather limited budget and can not afford to travel around the country interviewing former POWs, so I thought this website would be the best way for me to be able to ask some questions.
If you are interested, please answer the six short questions below and return
an email to me at
lnuehri@mail.uark.edu.
Thank you for your time.
1. Do you think there is any substance behind the idea that former POWs from
rural areas survived better than those from urban areas?
2. Do you feel that your military training was of any benefit to your survival?
3. Did the officers receive better treatment and survive at a greater rate because of their treatment?
4. Were you brought up in a rural or urban area?
5. What branch of the service did you serve in?
6. What one thing would you credit most for your survival?
Lisa Beckenbaugh
University of Arkansas
lnuehri@mail.uark.edu