Ben Steele joined the Army Air Corps in 1940. He was raised on a cattle ranch north of Billings [Annotator's Note: Billings, Montana]. His father homesteaded in 1912. The ranch was on a 7,000 acre piece of land. He attended a country school, and occasionally he and his brother were the only kids in class. One of the saddest days of his life was moving away from the farm. The family moved to Billings and Steele dropped out of high school to help make money for the family. He made 25 dollars a month. He was 21 years old when he finished high school. Steele attended a camp for shepherds. In 1940, Steele joined the military and went to Clark Field, California. He was in the 19th Bombardment Group, which flew B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. His mother told him to enlist. After Steele became a POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war], his mother blamed herself for talking him into joining. He found boot camp easy because he was accustomed to waking up early. Steele bought a horse in Albuquerque [Annotator's Note: Albuquerque, New Mexico] and would go riding and camping. In New Mexico, he trained to work in air control and operations.

Ben Steele knew things were getting tense when he was sent overseas. When he got to Hawaii, he received orders to go to the Philippines. He went with an armed convoy to Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines]. He arrived in October 1941 and stayed at Clark Field. There were 16 B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] at Clark Field when the war broke out. He was bombed the same day as Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], wiping out his bombers. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, they did not take it seriously until the bombing started there. The Japanese took out all of the fighters and bombers. Steele was shooting at planes with a .45 pistol [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol]. He evacuated from Clark Field to Bataan on Christmas Day 1941. He blamed MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] for there not being enough food and for not letting the bombers attack Formosa [Annotator's Note: present day Taiwan]. When he arrived in Bataan, Steele's rations were cut in half. He witnessed trucks entering Bataan with furniture instead of food. They ate all the lives stock, wild fruit, and monkeys. Steele's job was to butcher caribou at night. He was supposed to be awarded a Silver Star [Annotator's Note: the third-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy] for that, but his commanding officer died and the documents were lost. After four months, the lines broke and Steele retreated to the tip of the peninsula.

Ben Steele had not eaten in three days when he was captured. He was captured after walking out in front of an enemy tank. Steele was stripped of personal belongings and given a Japanese pack, which he carried for five miles. It was torture. When he fell, the Japanese would kick and threaten to bayonet him. He was happy to get rid of the extra pack. There were 70,000 troops captured. The following morning, Steele started on the Bataan Death March. He went nine days without eating and walked the whole length of the march. He was not allowed to get water and was rarely fed. The Filipinos tried to feed the prisoners. Steele tried to avoid the people falling behind. In San Fernando [Annotator's Note: San Fernando, Luzon, Philippines], he was loaded into a train and sent to Camp O'Donnell [Annotator's Note: Camp O'Donnell prisoner of war camp]. The boxcar he was in was small, made of metal, and packed with men. The box would get very hot and people died from thirst and bayonet wounds. Steele was bayoneted in the butt, leading to a loss of blood. He was trying to help a soldier when he was bayonetted. He stayed in Camp O'Donnell for six weeks. People were dying by the thousands. Steele was on the burial detail. He volunteered to help build a road near Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines]. Of the 325 people who worked on the road, only 50 survived. There was no shelter from the rain. The rice given to them was half raw, and people were dying of diseases like malaria. Steele was brought to a prison in Manila, which had a makeshift hospital. He came down with beriberi, which caused his body to swell. After six months, he was starting to get better. While there, he began drawing, which occupied his mind. He believes art saved his life. In 1944, he was sent to Cabanatuan [Annotator's Note: Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp, Cabanatuan City, Luzon, Philippines] to work on a farm before being transferred to Japan to work in a coal mine.

While working on a road, Ben Steele would see men covered with mosquitos. They did not have mosquito nets to sleep with. Everyone, including Steele, had malaria. Steele worked on the road with a 103 degree fever. During the night before the surrender, Steele was with his friend, but they were separated and did not find each other again until they arrived in Camp O'Donnell [Annotator's Note: Camp O'Donnell prisoner of war camp]. They both volunteered to work on a road, but his friend jumped off the truck and ended up at Cabanatuan [Annotator's Note: Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp, Cabanatuan City, Luzon, Philippines], where he was liberated during the "Great Raid" [Annotator's Note: liberation of the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp on 30 January 1945 by the 6th Ranger Battalion]. They met on the journey to the Philippines. They were both hunters and grew up on a ranch. The day the Japanese attacked, Steele's friend was working in the control tower and was hit with shrapnel and brought to a hospital. Steele helped take care of him, and gave him the watch he lost when he was wounded. While on Bataan, the two of them were put into the infantry. They were about to dig a foxhole when a Japanese bomb landed where they were about to dig. Steele lost his hearing in one ear from the blast. He was given a rifle and ammunition to fight on the front lines. Steele was scared to death. He saw the Japanese flying overhead right before the attack started. Initially the soldiers thought the planes were Americans until the bombs started dropping. Many men were killed. They were too scared to talk. The attack was shocking and devastating. The night before the surrender, Steele was put on guard duty at an airfield. The Americans thought there would be a parachute attack. Only four men were put on the mission. The troops did not talk much about the possibility of becoming POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war], but knew it would happen. They also knew there was not much of a chance they would survive. It was traumatizing. When they were being encircled, the troops began moving back. Steele tried to save a soldier, but he ended up dying. He saw hills covered in Japanese. The Americans were moving as fast as possible to Corregidor [Annotator's Note: Corregidor Island, Manila Bay, Luzon, Philippines]. Around 30 nurses were captured on Bataan.

Ben Steele was on a detail when he passed out on the side of the road, stricken with malaria. When he was finally able to get up, he begged some officers for water, but they refused to give him some. His friend in the camp gave him some water and a quinine pill [Annotator's Note: anti-malarial medication]. [Annotator's Note: Steele searches for a painting he made of a water line.] Steele took art lessons after the war and made pictures of his experiences. There was only one water source in the camp. It was difficult to get water in the camp. Many men died from thirst. [Annotator's Note: Steele and his wife discuss his art.] Steele had to bury two of his friends. He visited one of their wives after the war. Two men he buried were from his home town of Billings [Annotator's Note: Billings, Montana]. Steele would pass out while working. The moment he woke up, the Japanese put him back to work. He had to sleep all night in the rain. Steele remembers the Navy corpsman that helped him heal. At some point, Steele had developed a blood infection in his foot from stepping on a stick. He was given the Catholic last rites [Annotator's Note: the last prayer and ministrations given to an individual before their death] three times. He did not care if he died. Cabanatuan [Annotator's Note: Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp, Cabanatuan City, Philippines] was one of the better places Steele was brought. He worked on a farm and was able to occasionally sneak food into the camp. He wanted to stay at that camp. He knew the camp would be liberated before he was. Nobody wanted to go to Japan because it was dangerous to get there. He was put on a hell ship [Annotator's Note: unmarked ships used to bring Allied prisoners of war to Japan under hellish conditions]. It took 62 days to reach Japan from Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines] because the ship kept breaking down. Everyone had lice on the ship. Steele was given a shower with medicated soap. The guards in Japan were not as bad as in the Philippines. He never got a death threatening beating. While in Japan, he and a Marine were planning the death of a Japanese guard. He sent four or five cards out to his family while in the various camps. His family hoped to see his name on a liberation list. They found out about his liberation when Steele called them from San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. He was back in the United States a week after being liberated.

Ben Steele was told the war was over by a Japanese officer. At first, the Americans did not believe him, but American B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] dropped leaflets confirming the news and food. Steele ate an entire box of candy, making him sick. He then ate some raw bacon, which also made him sick. Each man received three or four boxes of cigarettes. Nobody wanted to go to sleep for several days. People do not appreciate their freedom until it is taken away. His captivity made him appreciate what this country [Annotator's Note: United States of America] offers. Steele thinks about how lucky he is every time he gets into bed. The Japanese took the prisoners to the Americans. They were given a shower with medicated soap. He was put on the USS Consolation (AH-15), a hospital ship. He had a bed with sheets and a radio. He ate three times the following morning. He hid a sandwich under his pillow to eat later. Everyone had mental problems. Steele was in and out of a hospital for a year. He had a heart problem from beriberi and worms. Steele gave all of his drawings to a priest who was leaving on a ship, however, it sank. He had to remake all his drawings from memory. He used the G.I. Bill to go to art school. He then attended two more schools. Steele thinks the G.I. Bill is one of the best things that has happened. There were many suicides right after the war. Steele married in February 1945, but divorced three years later. Steele was suicidal afterwards. He never talked to his family about his experience in the war. He would draw pictures, but never talked about them. Steele married his current wife in 1952. He started talking about his experience when he put his art on show. Steele believes that talking about his experiences has helped him heal. He does not talk about everything he saw, including the results of beheadings. He experienced nightmares, including dreams about the coal mines.

Ben Steele worked two miles underground in a Japanese coal mine. It was very tight because of the way the ground settled. He remembers it being terrible. One day, there was an earthquake that put all the prisoners in complete darkness. The mine was located in southern Honshu Island, 70 miles from Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: Hiroshima, Japan]. When the atomic bomb was dropped, Steele could feel the ground shake and got debris and smoke from the blast. It scared the Japanese. He was not able to see the mushroom [Annotator's Note: the mushroon shaped cloud resulting from the detonation of an atomic bomb]. When he was liberated, the truck went through the remains of Hiroshima. He believes the bomb saved his life because of the directive to kill POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] when the Americans invaded the island. The bomb also saved Japan. He remembers seeing hundreds of B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] flying around before the atomic bombings. The whole nation cried when they had to surrender. Steele made friends with the kids and some of the Japanese. He would give them candy. Steele saw kids training for combat before the war ended. He hopes people will learn about how great the country [Annotator's Note: United States] is. He knows the problems the nation has will be solved. He forgave the Japanese. Steele has Japanese friends and had Japanese students. War is a nasty business, but you have to get over it. He believes hatred is a destructive force. Steele met the Japanese ambassador when he visited Washington D.C. He thinks he is a nice man. The ambassador gave Steele a medal. The Japanese want to have one of Steele's exhibits on display there.