Howard Hart was born in Saint Louis in 1938. His father was a mining engineer in the Philippines prior to the war. His mother kept their house. They lived in Manila on Luzon Island and were among the socially elite in the islands. Life was very good for Americans in the Philippines prior to the war. There was an idyllic life that generated a feeling of arrogance. The Americans felt that the Japanese would never attack the Philippines because it was a possession of the United States. Even the prewar evacuation of military dependents did not shock the American workers and their families as the United States High Commissioner in the Philippines told them not to worry about it. The indicator of upcoming trouble should have been more recognizable. Douglas MacArthur was hired by the Philippine government to develop the indigenous army. He failed in this effort even though there were United States Army units supporting the Philippine Army against the Japanese. During the course of the war, Hart was interned by the Japanese in two camps on Luzon. During that period, his family broke up and his stepfather entered the scene to take care of his mother and him. Following the war, Hart took his stepfather's name as he lost contact with his biological father. Hart graduated high school in the Philippines and then went to college in the United States. He had a 25 year career in the CIA [Annotator's Note: Central Intelligence Agency]. He served in India, Iran, Germany and Pakistan doing espionage work. He specialized in nuclear proliferation, terrorism and monitoring foreign internal affairs. After retirement, he and his wife went into business for themselves and moved to the top of a mountain where they enjoy their privacy.

Howard Hart has been told repeatedly that the onset of war in the Philippines was a terrible surprise to the American civilians there. It was incredible that the Far East Air Force was destroyed, and Manila was bombed [Annotator's Note: the Far East Air Force was the aviation branch of the United States Army in the Philippines prior to the war]. It became apparent that the Japanese invasion would succeed in the Philippine Islands. The United States and Philippine troops evacuated to Bataan and Corregidor as the prewar plans had defined. The lack of food and medicine in those locations were attributable to poor implementation by the high command of existing war plans for defense of the Philippines. This lack of correct responses included Douglas MacArthur and his staff. The allied civilians on the islands became terrified of how they would be treated by the Japanese. They saw the Japanese treatment of civilians in Malaya, Indochina, and, importantly, in China. Initially, the Japanese did not act the same way as they did in their previous conquests. They could have killed the American civilians outright, but they did not. Instead, they rounded up the civilians and sent them to the University of Santo Tomas.

Howard Hart was a civilian internee along with his family at one of the two camps in Luzon established by the Japanese after their successful invasion of the Philippines. One camp was at the University of Santo Tomas and the other was much smaller and located to the north on Luzon at Baguio. The camps had no provision to take care of the prisoners. The civilians had to make their own way through getting food through the barbed wire from servants or Filipino entrepreneurs who would sell to those incarcerated. To pay for the food, bankers in the camps would issue IOUs [Annotator's Note: an IOU or I owe you is a means of borrowing money when there is no collateral other than good faith] to those trying to buy necessities. Hart's stepfather was a banker and would issue thousands of dollars of IOUs this way. For years after the war, banks in the Philippines would honor these IOUs.

Howard Hart was incarcerated in two of the camps on Luzon. First he was in Santo Tomas and then in Los Banos. Santo Tomas was a major camp inside the city of Manila. It housed over 4,000 internees. The camp set up a self-governing organization. By 1943, the camp had become overcrowded. About 2,000 male internees were sent south to establish a new camp at Los Banos. They were told to build the new facilities, but being professionals for the most part, they knew little about construction. As a result, the Japanese hired Filipino construction workers to build the new barracks. The layout was better organized than the shanties that had sprung up around the Santo Tomas facilities. At Santo Tomas there was a wall surrounding the prisoners. Escape was punishable by death. If successful, any Filipinos aiding the escapee were subject to death when caught. At Los Banos, there was a double ring of barbed wire around the camp. If a prisoner neared the wire, he would be shot. Nevertheless, internees did go through the wire for food or to escape. The Japanese had two types of prisoners to care for in their camps. There were military as well as civilian prisoners. Food was a scarcity for both types of prisoners. The military prisoners were both Filipino and American, but the Filipino prisoners were much more in the majority as only limited American armed forces support had reached the Philippines prior to the war. Hart describes the dietary and other scarcities experienced in the camps. Life was unsanitary and embarrassing with things like toilet paper in short supply. These indignities, as well as the hunger, were the things that bothered the internees the most.

Howard Hart saw only one Red Cross package in the Los Banos camp during the one and a half years he spent there. In Santo Tomas, there were only two packages received during the war. The Japanese kept the packages for themselves despite the desperate need of the prisoners for the nutrition that was contained in them. As the American advances in the Pacific grew closer the Japanese guards became more vicious. The supplies to the Japanese were being cut off by American submarines and aircraft so the guards were beginning to feel the deprivation. For Hart, hunger was a constant thing that never ebbed. He was so hungry that he forgot that he was hungry. The food not only was scarce, but it was tainted with weevils and maggots. At first, that fact was repugnant to the prisoners but eventually, the maggots were looked at as a source of protein to add to their sustenance. With the scarcity of food, Hart's family even tried to cook a banana tree stalk. The plant was barely edible and caused sickness in the family. It was, however, the only food to be had so Hart's mother beckoned him to eat it. Parents sacrificed their food ration to provide more food for their children. Pets had very little chance of survival because they were looked at as a food source. Water supply was not plentiful or clean. Water always had to be boiled to prevent sickness from the impurities. Medicines were nonexistent. Doctors had to improvise. Hart had boils that were lanced with a heated fork. Burials were daily as at least one voice was missing from the morning roll call each day.

Howard Hart saw how difficult it was to survive in the internment camps. In order to prevent the Japanese from taking wedding rings, they were hidden in a person's rectum during strip searches. Swallowing rings did not work because there was insufficient food available to help the rings pass. Hart's mother traded her wedding ring in 1944 for a can of corned beef. It served as a week's worth of food for Hart and his mother. Hunger was pervasive so to take people's mind off the pain, classes were held to educate the prisoners. Professionals would teach their fellow prisoners the skills of their trade. It helped somewhat but hunger still caused some to try to cross the wire in order to find food. When they were caught by the Japanese, they were shot. The Los Banos camp commander was not involved in the daily running of the camp. He deferred that to his second in command. That individual was a cruel man who had no kindness for the prisoners. He was a sadist. When camp liberation neared, the cruel commander fled the camp. He escaped briefly but was captured and eventually executed. Most of the guards were not especially cruel, but they were not to be crossed. Even a slight bit of childish mischief could bring harsh punishment. There were Catholic clergy in the Los Banos camp. The nuns would take care of the young to provide their parents with a break from all the camp stresses. The nuns played games with the children. It was great fun to see them running and playing. It brought sorely needed humor to the bleak camp life.

Howard Hart found out that there was a secret radio in the camp. An engineer had put it together using scavenged parts that he had managed to find. The radio brought news of the American advances toward the Philippines. Details could not be divulged to the internees because the Japanese would become aware that there was an illicit radio among the prisoners. The word could only be let out that the Americans were making progress in moving toward the Philippines. As the Americans approached in 1944, more and more aircraft with stars on them showed up over the camp. The airmen would perform aerobatics to let the internees know that the Americans were on the way. This was underscored by the fact that the Japanese had few aircraft to interfere with the American airplanes. With the American landings to the north on Luzon, it was obvious to all that the end was near. Despite this, many Japanese fought to the death in the Philippines and took the lives of many civilians with them. There was also collateral damage by the Americans that cost the lives of many Filipinos. There had been a great debate about the invasion of the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur won the argument concerning whether he should return to the Philippines. The invasion of the Philippines likely saved Hart's life. It is debatable as to whether that was the right decision or not in the long run.

Howard Hart saw the American artillery exploding at night near Manila which was just to the north of the Los Banos camp. With Los Banos behind enemy lines, the concern existed that the Japanese would annihilate the internees before the Americans arrived. That fear prompted the rescue of military prisoners in Cabanatuan as well as Santo Tomas and Los Banos where civilian internees were held. The rescues at Santo Tomas occurred while the fighting in the city still raged. Los Banos was liberated through a well planned and synchronized rescue by Filipino guerrillas, amphibious tractors, and a dawn paratrooper drop. The paratroopers from the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment became known as the Angels of Los Banos because they dropped from the sky and rescued clergy and civilians. One of the paratroopers carried Hart with one arm and a Tommy gun with the other. The trooper told Hart that he was going to bring him home [Annotator’s Note: Hart becomes emotional at the memory]. This resulted in Hart feeling like he owed his country a debt. His service in the CIA was due to this devotion. The civilians were expedited out of the camp in the amphibious tractors and brought across the lake to Manila where the American lines were. Nearly all the Japanese camp guards were killed, but the cruel camp commander escaped. He would later be captured and executed for his actions in Los Banos and reprisals that he took against the Philippine civilian population after the camp fell to the Americans.

Howard Hart saw trenches being dug near the Los Banos camp before the rescue. The internees felt that they would be killed and the trenches would be their graves. The rescue by the American paratrooper made him feel that he had a debt to pay to his country in some way. He had to be a guy like that paratrooper to help his fellow Americans [Annotator’s Note: Hart becomes emotional]. After returning to Manila, the internees were cared for. They were billeted in a prison where there were cots and plenty of food. The problem was that the internees had to adjust to adequate food. Some were violently ill due to the consumption of wholesome food. Candy even made Hart sick. When Hart travelled back to the United States, an army nurse attempted to draw blood from him with a needle. Seeing the sharp object, Hart felt fear that the nurse would hurt him. When he arrived at Long Beach, California, a band was playing The Star Spangled Banner. He had never heard it before. Those internees who heard it wept [Annotator’s Note: Hart becomes emotional]. America projected its force with hope, kindness, and liberty. America takes care of its own. Every American, whether soldier or civilian, did his job to bring the victory. It all was important. Being an American is a gift from God. Shortly after the war, Hart and his family returned to the Philippines. He felt he had no scars from the experience as an internee, but he was sure his parents did. Some of his friends who experienced the camp life do have bad memories and fears.