Ben Skardon was born in July 1917 in St. Francisville, Louisiana, one of six children. His parents were from New Orleans, Louisiana. His father was a priest in the Episcopal Church whose occupation required the family's relocation at regular intervals. Skardon always wanted to be in the Army, and after the Great Depression, it was his great thrill and privilege to attend a military school. In 1938, Skardon graduated from Clemson College, before he was old enough to receive his ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] commission, and had to wait until 1939 to start active duty. In July, he reported to Fort Screven, Georgia, for infantry training. As the situation deteriorated in Europe, he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia where he was stationed until 1941 when he received orders for the Philippines. He left San Francisco in October 1941, and arrived in Manila later that month by ship. His expectation of what the Philippines would be like was based on photographs he had seen in "National Geographic" magazines. But when he arrived at Fort McKinley outside of Manila, everything was hustle and bustle, and when he learned he would be leaving by inter-island steamer for Samar, he had no idea where he was going. On Samar, there was a cadre of officers readying a Filipino Division, and Skardon was sent to Catbalogan, Samar to join another American first lieutenant and a Philippine sergeant from the 31st Infantry Regiment. The three became the military advisors to a battalion of new recruits from the islands of Samar and Leyte. There was a language problem but somehow the basics, like sanitation and the use of the old Enflied rifles, were communicated. At the time, Skardon said, they didn't feel any pressure about the international situation. On 5 December 1941 they set sail to Luzon, and on 7 December, as they were pulling into Manila Bay, Skardon learned that Pearl Harbor had been bombed, and it hit him that we were at war.

When they were pulling into port in Luzon with 600 men aboard, Ben Skardon said that Lieutenant George Coburn, Skardon's senior officer and one of his personal heroes, took control and got them safely landed. The troops were put on wooden frame school buses, and headed toward their division camp. When they arrived at Cabanatuan, there wasn't much action going on at first, and Skardon was put in charge of Company A, 1st Battalion, 92nd Infantry Regiment, 91st Infantry Division of the Philippine Army. He was the only Caucasian in the company, and went north with them to meet the Japanese near Lingayen. He observed the impressive 26th Calvary Philippine Scouts, who were actually American troops, "crossing through" his troops on horseback, when they were leapfrogging back to Bataan. When Skardon's outfit arrived in Bataan, the defense of the peninsula had commenced. Skardon's soldiers participated in what was called the "Tuol Pocket Action" where the Japanese had broken through. It was the most devastating close combat he experienced. Their mission was to seal the pocket. Skardon lived in a hole behind his troops' line of holes, which was just beyond grenade range. Luckily, the Japanese were very cautious about expending ammunition. Everything about the techniques they were using was different from what Skardon had been taught, but he came to appreciate his soldiers. The situation was touch and go, but as long as the Filipinos could see Skardon urging them on, they felt secure in their advances. He recommended one of his troops for the Distinguished Service Cross because of a daring jump on to a tank where he directed fire into a Japanese nest. When it was over, they found seven or eight enemy dead in a trench, picked up their weapons and sent a truck in to recover their equipment. Finally, they closed the Tuol Pocket.

When the Tuol Pocket was closed, Ben Skardon's company [Annotator's Note: Company A, 1st Battalion, 92nd Infantry Regiment, 91st Infantry Division of the Philippine Army] took up a sector near the final defensive position [Annotator's Note: on the Bataan Peninsula]. From there he was evacuated on a bamboo stretcher back to the command post area, where a Filipino doctor diagnosed his malaria. He was sent to hospital, and thought he had died when he saw the nurses. He responded to treatment, and survived a bomb that fell nearby, only to be captured when the surrender took place. Skardon remembers feeling relieved when he heard that General King [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General Edward P. King] had gone to negotiate surrender, because "everything was crashing." He took his sidearm apart, and threw the components into the woods. Then he walked up to the road where there were guards with bayonets drawn and a large number of Americans. His thoughts were, "Where the hell have you guys been; why didn't you come up front where you could do some good?" They stood in columns for a very long time, then began a march he figured was about 80 miles long. The cruelty, the barbarism, the terror that took place on that march, Skardon said, was beyond comprehension. He said he still gets a little worked up when he thinks of the dodging he had to do, and his thought was always, "Stay alive." There was talk of the captives being traded, and there were other rumors that did not materialize, but Skardon said the rumors sometimes hit a ray of hope. Skardon never thought he would be lost or that he would spend an extended period of time in prison, mostly because he didn't know the Japanese didn't negotiate. What he did realize what that they were ruthless, and he tried to keep his head down and plod on. Thirst soon became an issue, and even now Skardon remembers how good it was to drink cold water when he got to Japan in 1945. For a long time, too, he was intolerant of anyone wasting food.

Ben Skardon was first incarcerated at Camp O'Donnell [Annotator's Note: former American military reservation on Luzon, Philippines], an improvised camp that had wooden buildings with thatched roofs for barracks. There were no electric lights, and each barracks had one spigot that was running all the time and served as drinking water, shower space and laundry. It was a popular location. After several weeks, Skardon came to the realization that nothing was getting any better. He said the atmosphere was full of deep dark thoughts, but Skardon was never obsessed with depression; he prayed a lot. One of his buddies fashioned a bamboo swatter, and the men hunted, gutted and toasted green frogs to supplement their meager rice rations. Skardon said they were delicious. After six weeks the prisoners were moved to Cabanatuan, a big work camp where they stayed for the next two and a half years, working on a farm. Skardon couldn't believe the brutality of the guards, and said no one felt safe until they were back in the compound at night, where the guards stayed on the outside. Skardon didn't experience the rainy season during the time he was in combat, but he did go through several typhoons while in prison. He said the shacks would shake, but the prisoners would huddle up under their blankets or foxhole half-covers to stay dry and protected. In October 1944, the Japanese called out about 500 names, and moved those men to Bilibid Prison. There, Skardon was separated from the couple of buddies he had grown close to on Cabanatuan, and felt the loss.

On 13 December 1944, Ben Skardon was among about 1,600 prisoners from Bilibid Prison who were marched down to a dock and loaded onto the Japanese liner Ōryoku Maru. The wait to board was long, and Skardon had used all of his water by the time he made it down a ladder at the rear of ship, into a hold where a Japanese guard was wielding a shovel to keep the POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] in line. Skardon dove toward a bulkhead, and with the aid of other prisoners, found a spot among the men who were sitting on the floor, "one in the crotch of the other." The loading went on and on, even after the place was full, and guys were breaking down, going crazy, yelling and pleading. It was "total chaos of the worst type," according to Skardon. He passed out, and some men helped to put him where he could get some air. When he came to, he observed the air attack: Navy planes were coming out of the clouds, right down on the ship. Skardon said he experienced a strange sense of satisfaction that this ship was under attack; guys around him were shouting, "Blow up this SOB!" Bomb after bomb fell, and the prisoners could feel fragments hitting the ship. Skardon remembers thinking of how he would get free if a bomb hit the part of the ship where he was, but now he realizes his plan would never have worked. Finally, a bomb hit the stern of the ship, and all at once things got deathly quiet. There was dust and particles floating in the air, but nobody moved for a while. Eventually, Skardon ventured out, and came upon one of his buddies, and they hugged each other. The friend said to him, "Ben, we in a hell of a fix." There were no Japanese guards around, and no more firing; just quiet. There were bodies everywhere, guys who took the full blast, and Skardon walked over them to the bomb hole. Somebody shouted, "You bastards better get off now, 'cause this ship's on fire!" Skardon looked out and saw countless little black heads bobbing up and down in Subic Bay; the Japanese had evacuated the ship the night before, apparently it had gone aground about 500 meters offshore. Skardon jumped into the beautiful blue water. Soon, machine gun fire was coming from the shore: the Japanese were shooting at survivors floating on planks, but the bullets were whizzing over their heads. He was pulled into a lifeboat, and the occupants paddled by hand toward shore. When he got to land, Skardon walked a wet trail up to some tennis courts where the survivors were gathering. Many of the guys were severely wounded, and Skardon said he saw some tough stuff.

Ben Skardon thought the prisoners would be taken back to Bilibid Prison and that the American troops were nearby or coming up. Instead, the prisoners boarded another ship [Annotator's Note: Skardon thinks it was the Brazil Maru]. They were given water and rice, and Skardon and a buddy were eating when this second ship came under attack. They were below decks in a large hold, and Skardon was hit by a falling timber, and felt a burning sensation in his arm. He realized he was cradling his dead friend, and went into shock, and refused to turn loose of his buddy. Skardon was surprised that other soldiers came around and scavenged his buddy's gear. He finally gave the man over, and noticed there was shrapnel stuck in his arm. Skardon's wound was swabbed with antiseptic, and he remembers the many dead being pulled out and stacked on the deck. Skardon recalls seeing his friend's face at the bottom of the pile. By that time, Skardon said, the prisoners were generally dehumanized, and unmoved by the horror. His only thought was, "If I can just stay alive…" Skardon kept thinking about his family, and wondering if his brothers, who were also in the armed forces, were dead or alive. After the attack, the prisoners were moved to a third ship, a small Japanese freighter, and it steamed north. The prisoners went barefoot on the cruddy floor of the hold, were fed unshelled rice, and, although diarrhea was rampant, had no toilet facilities except for a chair-like structure hanging over the edge of the ship with the ice-littered Pacific roiling below which the prisoners were loathe to use. The weather grew increasingly colder. Skardon and two other men huddled together to sleep, and one night one of the three died. The remaining two took his clothes. They also drank the man's half canteen of water, and reasoned that his death kept the two of them alive. Skardon acknowledged then that it was easy to die when the will to live is lost. The prisoners' numbers kept dwindling, and by the time they reached Moji [Annotator's Note: Moji-ku is a port area in Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan], only 400 of the 1,600 prisoners who set out were still alive. The ship's superstructure was covered with ice, and Japanese officers wearing white masks came on board with piles of fresh peasant wear. The prisoners were delighted to get the clothes, but they were still not presentable: it had been a long time since their hair or teeth had been brushed, they were unshaved, and their bodies were covered in dirt and crud. But it was a bright day, and because Skardon was experiencing a little vertigo, he crawled across the narrow plank to the wharf, which gave the Japanese a laugh. Many of the remaining prisoners died within the month.

After 49 days and three ships, and enduring the most horror and terror and fear Ben Skardon had ever known, he was taken to Fukuoka #3 Camp. The commander of the camp was an old Imperial-style Japanese officer who wore a sword and a grandiose mustache. The prisoners had as their leader Lieutenant Colonel O. O. "Zero" Wilson, and once he took over, things were a little better. The prisoners had a hot Japanese-style bath and blankets, and they thought it was Heaven. Although the rations were better at this camp, Skardon remembers stealing and eating the raw eyes of potatoes that he was supposed to have planted in a garden. In April the Japanese commander came in and said he was sorry to inform them of the death of President Roosevelt. Skardon remembers two occasions when the prisoners were taken out of the camp. On the second trip in late April 1945, the prisoners were brought by ferry to Korea and then traveled via train to the Hoten POW [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] Camp in Manchuria. The camp housed Dutch, British and American prisoners of war, mostly officers. The food was healthier and more plentiful, and although the higher ups were "bitching" about the installation, Skardon felt it was like being in a hotel.

Ben Skardon said there was scuttlebutt about an American bomb that had destroyed an entire Japanese city, but it was such a fantastic story, he didn't pay any attention to it. One night, though, a Japanese guard threw an American prisoner a pack of cigarettes and said the Japanese word for "friends." These Guangdong Province Japanese had never fought the Americans, and were not comparable in any way to the Japanese that Skardon knew. Then there was word of a second bomb, and when a big camouflaged plane circled the area dropping paratroopers, the news shot through the camp that Americans sporting .45s [Annotator's Note: M1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol] had been seen on the road. The jump team had brought in telegraph equipment, and it was made clear to the Japanese commander and his guards that the inmates were now in charge of the prison. Skardon said their hearts just jumped, but they were warned to stay calm and wait for the Russians to come along and liberate the camp. But from then, Skardon said, everything was "glory." Food was airdropped, and the prisoners started having American-style meals. Motion picture equipment arrived, and the troops were treated to "Stage Door Canteen," which they wanted to view over and over to see the girls shake their hips. They got copies of "Life" magazine, and fought over reading them. Without much animosity, there was a change of command ceremony. After being fumigated, Skardon left the camp on a medical transport with patients from the camp hospital, and flew to China. From there he went southwest to Kunming, where he got a shampoo and bought souvenirs. In a C-54 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft] on the way to Manila, Skardon looked out and saw the Great Wall of China. In Manila he got new uniforms, complete dental care, and new credentials. Initially, Skardon kept his POW [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] clothes, but they made his wife sad, and she threw them out. The POWs, who were called RAMPs [Annotator's Note: Recovered American Military Personnel], couldn't have been treated better, according to Skardon.

Ben Skardon revisited the liberation of the Hoten Camp and the Russian occupation in that area of Manchuria. He returned to the sensation he has held that there was a period when he lost his humanity, and said that when he was in graduate school and studying Shakespeare's King Lear, he identified with the king when he reached the state of "natural man." Skardon said Shakespeare opened his eyes, and helped him transition from an Army officer to an American citizen. Skardon spent some time in hospitals when he got back to the United States, recovering from his experiences and his broken health.

When asked if he had difficulty adjusting when he got home, Ben Skardon said he could sleep soundly, but didn't want to leave the house. He didn't know anybody any more, all the girls had grown up, and felt he was besieged by strangers who turned out to be people he knew but didn't recognize. He was asked to speak to the congregation of his father's church, and felt like he stumbled through the delivery. When he finished, Skardon said, he was almost sobbing, but his father reassured him, calling his presentation "very effective." After he was married, he would sometimes start "slugging and fighting" and kicking in his sleep, waking and sometimes frightening his wife. But he never went for any psychological evaluations; he and his wife just worked through it. He was once again in action in the Korean War, as Secretary to the General Staff at Corps Headquarters, quite a good position. Today, Skardon said, he sometimes gets very emotional, and when he gives talks, he pauses in places in his speech in order to maintain his composure. As he approaches the 70th anniversary of his capture, he feels no animosity toward his captors. He believes his faith gives him strength. He knows he was lucky to have survived.

Ben Skardon has ten percent disability because of his feet, as a result of beri beri. A change in his diet helped him overcome the severe pain he suffered while he was enduring the disease. He better understood the Japanese treatment of prisoners after he read about how they were trained. Skardon does not think well of Douglas MacArthur [Annotator's Note: US Army General Douglas MacArthur], and calls him "Dugout Doug" because of his use of the phrase "May the halo of Jesus Christ be upon each and every one of you" in thousands of circulars to the Philippine troops. Skardon wondered where MacArthur was coming from. Skardon said he had a real military mind, and was good at maneuvers, but he was arrogant. Skardon said many Marines lost their lives under his command. Skardon remembers an occasion when he was very ill at the big work camp; his friends were administering to him. He had been keeping his graduation ring in a sock, and his friends told him it was time to trade it. They put the word out around the camp that a gold ring was for sale for food. A nice chicken was brought in, and soup was prepared. Skardon's condition improved considerably with the help of his friends.

It's great to be alive, Ben Skardon said, and he reminds his children of that all the time. He didn't talk about his experiences after the war, because he was embarrassed about having been a prisoner of war. When anybody found out, they wanted to know about the Bataan "walk." He plans to participate in the upcoming memorial walk in White Sands, and will be wearing a t-shirt that reads, "Ben's Brigade." In his opinion, future generations should understand that they should never give up hope, and that material things don't necessarily make people happy. He believes it important to take human beings at face value and trust others until they violate your trust. He preaches three things - survival, endurance and faith.