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Ex-war POWs gather as numbers dwindle

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — On the sparkling waters of Lake Coeur d’Alene, Brown Davidson and Hank Cornellisson sat atop La Dame du Lac and ribbed one another with a familiarity known only to a special kind.

These men are members of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor — they are prisoners of war. They were tortured by the Japanese in the Philippines, and they are grateful. Most genuinely, they are grateful to be spending a gorgeous afternoon aboard Fred and Diane Finney’s impeccable houseboat; you can hear it in their laughter.

“Oh, hey, we do this every year,” joked Cornellisson. “Same old stories, same old faces, same old guys.”

“There are just fewer of them,” Davidson said.

The men remember their friend Ed Holt, of Coeur d’Alene, who was meant to be with them, but died a few days earlier.

“We’re fighting each other to see who’s gonna be around the longest,” Davidson continued with a lighthearted tone.

Davidson’s contention is that friend Cornellisson will win. Having narrowly avoided the Bataan Death March, Cornellisson didn’t face the same problems Davidson encountered.

“I didn’t make the death march, I was smarter than those guys,” quipped Cornellisson. He was later captured on a pineapple plantation on the island of Mindanao.

Davidson marched. He made it to San Fernando but came down with malaria. He remembers bowing to the Japanese soldiers to avoid being beaten and mentioned survival had a lot to do with having a friend to help get you through.

Magnor Peterson was on board for the gathering late last month with his grandson, Mike, of Port Angeles, Wash. Next year the Petersons plan to host the ADBC. In previous years, the group has visited the site of Custer’s Last Stand for a reenactment of the famous battle, Mike explained. This year, the boat ride is a little easier for the octogenarians and older POWs.

“Oh this is a wonderful experience for all of us,” shared Magnor, after recounting a very different ride where he had been shoved into the hull of a boat with 200 other prisoners outside of the Bilibid prison in Manilla.

“It’s hard to comprehend what we went through,” said artist Ben Steele, who felt the Hiroshima explosion from the Omine prison camp in Japan.

“We got the concussion even where we were, but we didn’t know what it was,” he said.

Asked about the weekend’s events, Steele explained that the regional ADBC meetings were more important to him than the national meeting, as he knows everybody.

“We are going to hate to break it up, because all of us guys have a pretty strong bond,” Steele said.

Steele’s daughter, Rosemarie, who helps with her father’s secretarial role, described the boat cruise as a “great treat” to the POWs.

“They are so much fun to work with, they just have great attitudes. They’re all glad to be alive,” she said.

Bud Kirchhoff and Fred Finney’s father, Bill, drink coffee every morning at Down the Street. It was from this friendship that Kirchhoff inquired about taking the boys of the ADBC out on La Dame du Lac for their annual convention.

“Fred’s been a very gracious host, and we appreciate it very much,” Kirchhoff said.

Finney, however, quickly credited wife Diane: “She put all the work together.”

“I’ll tell you, this gentleman that owns the boat here ... they have treated us like royalty,” said Hank Cornellisson of the Finneys’ hospitality.

“This is the highlight of the trip right here,” he finished.

The men are glad — relieved almost — to share their tales with those who will listen. The memories, the suffering, the loss are all there, old and deep. But for an afternoon in late June, they lie just beneath the twinkling eyes and that light laughter of sagacity, not unlike the waters below, brilliantly refracting a beautiful sun-filled day.