In this moving memoir a young man comes of age in an age of violence, brutality, and war. Recounting his experiences during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, this account brings to life the shocking day-to-day conditions in a Japanese labor camp and provides an intimate look at the collapse of Dutch colonial rule. As a boy growing up on the island of Java, John Stutterheim spent hours exploring his exotic surroundings, taking walks with his younger brother and dachshund along winding jungle roads. His father, a government accountant, would grumble at the pro-German newspaper and from time to time entertain the family with his singing. It was a fairly typical life for a colonial family in the Dutch East Indies, and a peaceful and happy childhood for young John. But at the age of 14 it would all be irrevocably shattered by the Japanese invasion. With the surrender of Java in 1942, John's father was taken prisoner. For over three years the family would not know if he was alive or dead. Soon thereafter, John, his younger brother, and his mother were imprisoned. A year later he and his brother were moved to a forced labor camp for boys, where they toiled under the fierce sun while disease and starvation slowly took their toll, all the while suspecting they would soon be killed. Throughout all of these travails, John kept a secret diary hidden in his handmade mattress, and his memories now offer a unique perspective on an often overlooked episode of World War II. What emerges is a compelling story of a young man caught up in the machinations of a global war-struggling to survive in the face of horrible brutality, struggling to care for his disease-wracked brother, and struggling to put his family back together. It is a story that must not be forgotten.

World War II was truly the largest and greatest conflict in U.S. history. We Were in the Big One: Experiences of the World War II Generation is a collection of diary entries, letters, photographs, and other documents from that era. Carefully selected from the Eisenhower Library's World War II Participants Collection and other archives, this material-generated in response to the historical events themselves-reflects the mindset of the people who produced it. These documents shed light on one of the most important periods of American history. We Were in the Big One is one of the first books to make primary source material on this era widely available for use in the classroom. These contemporary documents reveal a great deal about the attitudes of the World War II generation toward matters such as gender, political beliefs, race, religion, social and cultural mores, and personal values. With a concise introduction and headnotes that introduce each document, Prof. Parillo provides an interpretive framework that puts the selections in context for students. Parillo shows how the war affected Americans across gender lines, across social and political spectrums, on the home front, and on the battlefield. This compelling text enables students to discover how the war truly influenced an entire generation of Americans. We Were in the Big One is an excellent resource for courses in American twentieth-century history, World War II, and U.S. social and cultural history.