The Book as a Video
In our five-part video series, Ben Steele tells his remarkable story -- how he grew up on a Montana ranch, enlisted in the Army Air Corps, survived three years of brutal confinement and slave labor at the hands of the Japanese, was liberated in 1945 and came home to a touching reunion with his family and mother. In the final video chapter, he takes us on a tour of the art that emerged from his experience.
Chapter 1
Growing up at Hawk Creek
Ben describes growing up on a homestead ranch at Hawk Creek in Montana’s Bull Mountains, riding a horse to school and roaming the hills and prairie. He also talks about his father -- one of the last cowboys to work the open range.
Chapter 2
Off to War
Ben takes us from boot camp to his arrival in the Philippines, then to the bombing of Clark Field. Later he became a foot soldier in the battle of Bataan -- 99 days of fighting and starvation. "Help is on the way," his commanders promised, a promise, he says, that turned out to be a "lie."
Chapter 3
Death March and Beyond
More than 76,000 sick and starving men are set walking under an incendiary sun 66 miles to a prison camp. "I used to think, 'If anybody gets out of here, I'm gonna be one of them,'" Ben says. "Luck had so much to do with it." Then he describes the prison camp hospital, known as "Zero Ward," and his grim work on the camp burial detail.
Chapter 4
Liberation and Homecoming
Ben recalls his first call home (from San Francisco) after liberation in September 1945. Then he sits with "Tears" co-author Elizabeth and talks about his mother and their touching reunion in a Seattle bus station, the first time they had set eyes on each other in five years. Later, he tells the story of the unusual gift she gave him.
Chapter 5
Art and Artist
Ben gives us a tour of the oil paintings depicting his days as a POW: scenes from the battle, death march, camps and the coal mine in Japan where he was enslaved. We also get a look at his studio. He talks about teaching art and the first time a Japanese student walked into his classroom.
Photographed, edited and produced
by
David Scott Smith, Billings Montana, 2009
http://www.davidscottsmith.us/
Co-producers, Michael and Elizabeth Norman
by
David Scott Smith, Billings Montana, 2009
http://www.davidscottsmith.us/
Co-producers, Michael and Elizabeth Norman
