Dixon Navy veteran survived POW camp
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| Burrel Reynolds, 89, of Dixon, pages through a scrapbook commemorating his life, including his Navy service. Reynolds spent more than 3 years as a prisoner of war in the Philippines. Today, he and 22 other WWII veterans will be on board a Lee County Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. (David Rauch/drauch@svnmail.com) |
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DIXON – Burrel Reynolds has a story to tell. It’s a story that goes beyond words, a story captured in photographs yellowed around the edges, newspaper clippings, even a poem.
The narrative of his life, from his birth to the birth of his daughter, Lyn Trumbull, has been preserved in a thick royal blue scrapbook with “U.S. Navy” written on the front in gold letters.
Reynolds, 89, lived in Dixon most of his life, and now lives part time with his daughter in St. Charles.
He is one of 26 Lee County veterans who fly to Washington, D.C., today aboard an Honor Flight, to visit the World War II memorial. It is the newly formed Lee County chapter’s second trip; three veterans flew Tuesday.
As Reynolds begins to recite details from his World War II service, the memories flood back in waves. He always knew he was destined to serve his country in the Navy.
“When I was little, I dreamt of the Navy all the time,” he said. “I got old enough to join ... I told my dad ‘I’m joining the Navy.’”
His father, Robert Harrison, a WWI veteran, gave him the go-ahead.
Reynolds was 20 when he signed up in 1940.
He was in a hospital in the Philippines with the German measles when the war began.
“I woke up, and the radio was blasting, ‘We are at war! We are at war with Japan!’” Reynolds said.
The war went on and on, until finally, the American troops surrendered in the Philippines, he said.
“We couldn’t hold out there anymore,” he said. “Not enough food, and running out of ammunition, a lot of wounded and no supplies coming in or nothing. No way to get in there to pass the Japanese.”
So, all at once, 30,000 American troops surrendered.
That’s when Reynolds’ real battle began.
Reynolds became a prisoner of war, held captive for a harrowing 3 years and 4 months at the Philippines Military Camp.
Beatings, starvation, sickness and loneliness are just some of what he endured.
“It was pretty hard,” Reynolds said.
He and his fellow prisoners often were told they were going to be “machine-gunned.” For a time, it appeared it would be their only way out.
“We were looking for it to happen,” he said.
Eventually, the fence surrounding the camp crumbled. He was a prisoner no more.
“When I got out of that prison camp, I said, ‘God, if you ever get me home, I’ll never leave here again.’ And I never left Dixon.’”
He returned to the Sauk Valley after the war ended, and married Kathleen Louise, who would be his wife for 55 years.
Even today, Reynolds sometimes wonders how he ever got through it all.
“I don’t mind them calling me a hero, but not in the sense of the word they mean as hero. My meaning is surviving through it as a prisoner.”
About a year ago, he and the surviving POWs were awarded the Bronze Star.
But he was never a man in favor of decoration, he said. He would rather share his story with friends or family.
It’s clear that there is more to his story, but for the rest, you have to read between the lines of his scrapbook.
“That will tell you a lot,” Reynolds said. “There’s a lot of stuff in there, a lot more than I can tell you.”
