The Story of the Bataan Poet- Henry G. Lee

The Indictment of the Pearl Harbor 5 Podcast

On the afternoon of April 9, 1942, the doorbell rang at the house on 1230 Milan Avenue, Pasadena, California. The postman, who recognized the return address, said to Mr. Thomas Lee, who answered the door, that maybe it was from his son. In the corner of the envelope it showed that it was from Headquarters Sixth Army, in care of Postmaster, San Francisco.

Mr. Lee opened it to find a water-stained envelope inside addressed in handwriting he recognized.

"Mabel," he yelled to his wife, "It's a letter from Henry." Henry, their son, was Lt. Henry G. Lee, who was on Bataan in the Philippines. The last letter they had received from him, dated November 29, 1941, was in January. This one, dated February 12, 1942, had been en route for two months.

Through the poignant letters and poems he wrote, which were regarded as "a remarkable piece of work," this episode shares the first hand account by Lt. Henry G. Lee about his experiences as a soldier and later a prisoner of war during WW2.