Glen Kuskie was born in February 1924 on a dairy farm in Lincoln, Nebraska. When his family moved to town, his dad worked as a painter. He and his brother had to work for money in order to do things for fun. He entered the service in 1940 at the age of 16 through the National Guard, and then joined the regular Army. He was shipped out on 8 April 1941 to the Philippines and served as a rifleman in the 31st Infantry Regiment [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Division]. He was eventually promoted to company clerk. Kuskie does not recall any worry for war at the beginning of the year. He remembered when the Japanese attacked the Philippines on 8 December 1941 which was the day after they attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. The enemy attacked them initially by planes bombing the island. Kuskie recalled that the planes were flying low as they attacked. They also attacked the American planes, destroying all but one of them by the end of the day. Kuskie was using a truck as protection during the attack. The next day, the Japanese planes attacked the island again. After the two attacks, Kuskie and his unit moved out of Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Philippines] and went to Bataan [Annotator's Note: Bataan Peninsula, Philippines] before the Japanese invaded the island.

Glen Kuskie was fighting with the 31st Infantry [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Division] in Bataan [Annotator's Note: Bataan Peninsula, Philippines] when he took part in the defense of Bataan. He used a Garand rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. He can recall that the Japanese had a constant attack, never really letting up on them. They tried one last effort to hold Bataan but were forced to surrender on 9 April 1942. Kuskie recalled sitting on the road and eating a can of peaches when he realized they had lost Bataan. When he surrendered to the Japanese, they had to dismantle their rifles and throw them in the jungle. He then went to a valley to bathe and rest. They were eventually awakened by the Japanese and told to get up and leave all their possessions. Kuskie lined up with the rest of his fellow troops and started walking. This would become known as the Bataan Death March.

[Annotator's Note: Glen Kuskie was a rifleman in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Division when the division surrendered after losing the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines. He became a prisoner of the Japanese and took part in what is now known as the Bataan Death March.] During the march, they were not allowed to help anyone. The Japanese would shoot them, bayonet them, or cut their head off if they tried. Kuskie learned that he had to stay with the group in order to survive. He recalls being hit many times by the Japanese during the march. He also recalls entering a small village and running to get some water. He thought he would be shot at, but he was not. They got to a railroad area and were packed in a train car in which the prisoners had to stand the whole time. Many of the prisoners died on the train ride to Camp O’Donnell [Annotator’s Notes: Camp O’Donnell prisoner of war camp on Luzon Island, Philippines]. Kuskie describes the camp as a pasture with a spigot for water. The water pressure was so low that prisoners waited in line for 10 hours to fill their canteens. Kuskie can remember being weak and hungry. They were given plain rice in their mess kits if they worked a detail. Kuskie cut wood for the mess hall. He was also on a detail where he had to repair the Tarlac Bridge. One of the Japanese soldiers fell from the bridge and died. Kuskie and other prisoners were beaten for the incident. He would receive aid from the Filipinos every so often, but it had to be done in secret.

Glen Kuskie was transferred from Camp O’Donnell [Annotator's Note: Camp O’Donnell prisoner of war camp on Luzon Island, Philippines] to Cabanatuan [Annotator's Note: Cabanatuan, Philippines]. He remembers the camp as a little more organized than Camp O’Donnell, however food was just as scarce. When he was put in a prison camp in Davao [Annotator's Note: Davao, Philippines], they had to harvest the rice paddies. He was also sent to a prison camp near Lasang Airfield where he witnessed the Japanese blow up a bunch of planes landing on the airfield. One day he was tied up with other prisoners and forced to board a Hell ship. [Annotator's Note: Hell ship is a term used to describe unmarked Japanese ships that carried Allied prisoners of war. Conditions aboard the ships was so poor that they were referred to as Hell ships.] He remembered feeling the ship going then stopping continuously throughout the cruise. The ship was sunk by American torpedoes one afternoon. He can remember sitting in a hammock when the ship blew up. He was able to swim out of the ship and avoid being shot. With a group of other survivors, they swam for three miles and made it ashore when it was still dark.

Glen Kuskie had just made it to shore after surviving a Hell ship that was sunk by the Americans. [Annotator's Note: Hell ship is a term used to describe unmarked Japanese ships that carried Allied prisoners of war. Conditions aboard the ships was so poor that they were referred to as Hell ships.] Kuskie and the few other survivors were picked up by some Filipino guerrillas who hid and fed them for about a month until a submarine rescued them and took them to Mindanao [Annotator's Note: Mindanao, Philippines] then to New Guinea [Annotator's Notes: Papua New Guinea]. By the time he was back in American hands, Kuskie only weighed about 70 pounds. He debriefed in Brisbane, Australia and then was returned to the United States. [Annotator's Note: There is some banter between three interviewees from 1:03:10 to 1:03:58].

Glen Kuskie had survived being a Japanese prisoner of war in the Philippines and he finally returned to the United States. He was in a hospital for a while to recuperate. He would eventually join the Air Force and served until 1960. He was sent to Japan for a while for one of his duties and he ended up enjoying his experience. Kuskie reflected while he was at the prison camp; starvation was worse than being beaten. Kuskie did not talk about his experiences until he was older.