#5. The Heartbreaking WW2 POW Escapes of US Marines Sontag and Miller

Episode 5 – The Heartbreaking Escapes of Marines Louis Sontag and Brooks Miller – Episode Transcript

Cold Open
[Narrator] A quick note: This episode Left Behind contains detailed accounts of war, combat, and war crimes. Please be advised.
[Narrator] The Cavite Peninsula juts into Manila Bay, about seven miles southwest of Manila. The long, thin peninsula creates a natural deep-water harbor, making it the perfect spot for a shipyard since at least the 1600s, when Spain ruled The Philippines. By December 1941, the Cavite Navy Yard was the US Navy’s only ship repair facility in the western Pacific.
In the late morning of December 10, 1941, Private Brooks Miller, a 21-year-old California native and a 3-year veteran of the US Marines, sat in Battery F on Cavite Naval Yard’s Guadalupe Pier, watching Filipino workers digging an air-raid trench elsewhere in the yard.
Nearby sat another Private, Louis Sontag, a 23-year-old Marine with an oval face, cleft chin, and questioning, almost curious eyes.
It was 2 full days since the Japanese first attacked The Philippines, 2 full days since Cavite’s commander looked to the morning skies and announced:
[Commander] “The Japs ought to be here any minute.”
[Narrator] But Japanese aircraft had never arrived . . . at Cavite, at least. Airfields all over Luzon (The Philippine’s largest island) had been bombed to oblivion, but the Cavite Navy Yard remained untouched. Ships, apparently, were not Japan’s primary target.
So Privates Miller and Sontag and the 700 other US Marines, as well as the thousands of Navy personnel and civilians working in and stationed at the yard, had become somewhat complacent.
The Marines’ main job was to man the yard’s Artillery Batteries. Artillery batteries are groupings of heavy artillery, such as cannons or rockets or even howitzers. Cavite was defended by several Batteries—some inside and some outside the yard. Those outside the yard had antiaircraft weapons. Those in the yard, such as Battery F on Guadalupe Pier, had .50 caliber machine guns.
Just before noon, the Marines of Battery F, including Miller and Sontag, heard aircraft engines and looked skyward to see more than 50 aircraft in three “V” formations approaching. Their first response was relief.
[Marine 1] “Finally, the Army’s got their replacements coming!”
[Marine 2] “Look at those leaflets coming down.”
[Narrator] But something was wrong. The Marines noticed a dogfight under the formation. Then the yard’s air raid sounded. Sontag, Miller, and several other Marines, searching the skies and roused by the siren, yelled out almost in unison:
[Marines] “Leaflets, hell! They’re bombs!”
[Narrator] The first bombs hit the water of Manila Bay but were soon followed by more accurate bombs that hit the ground, rocking the naval base. Planes crisscrossed the yard, raining down bombs that exploded buildings and started fires.
Unfortunately, Battery F’s machine guns had little effect on the enemy planes. The Battery’s frustrated rangefinder called out:
[Rangefinder] “They’re above the range of our guns, Lieutenant.”
[Lieutenant] “Check again, Private!”
[Rangefinder] “Same, Sir. They’re flying above 21,000 feet. Our guns only reach 15,000.”
[Lieutenant] “Damn!” [Exasperated sigh] “Damn it, fire anyway.”
[Narrator] So Sontag, Miller and their fellow Marines fired their .50-calibure machine guns at the Japanese bombers, while Miller murmured that:
[Miller] “A toy pistol would damage those planes as much as we are.”
[Narrator] The Company’s Captain soon ordered them to cease fire since the bullets did nothing against the planes.
Across the naval yard, off-duty Marines lined up to get ammunition so they could fire on any Japanese Zeros strafing the yard. The lined-up Marines dove for cover as bombs dropped, then got back in line, until another bomb sent them scrambling.
Bombs dropped for two hours. Out-of-control fires raged, destroying everything in their paths—the power plant, repair ships, dispensary, barracks, ammunition, and more.
Civilians and sailors ran to Guadalupe Pier, trying to escape the bombs. When the last Japanese planes left, some 1,500 servicemen and civilians were dead or wounded.
But near Guadalupe Pier, explosions continued to rock the ground. The Battery’s Lieutenant and Captain surveyed the situation.
[Lieutenant] “It’s the Torpedo Warehouse, sir. The fires are exploding the warheads.”
[Captain] “And the fires have trapped us all on this damn pier.”
Surrounded by water on 3 sides and blocked by fire and exploding torpedoes on the fourth, the Marines, civilians, and sailors on Guadalupe Pier were in dire straits.
Thinking quickly, the Captain shouted orders:
[Captain] “Alright, you there, Miller, grab that hammer. Sontag, start gathering wood. Rip up the dock if you have to; we’re making rafts to get these people off this pier.”
[Narrator] This is Left Behind.

Podcast Welcome
Welcome to “Left Behind,” a podcast about the people left behind when the US surrendered The Philippines in the early days of WW2.
I’m Anastasia Harman, and I tell you the stories of WW2 servicemen and women, civilians, guerillas, and others captured by Japanese forces in The Philippines. My great-grandfather Alma Salm was one of those POWs, and his memoir inspired me to tell these stories.
Today’s story is about 2 young Marines and the women they left behind.

POW’s Life Story
Before the War
[Narrator] Brooks Miller was born on May 1, 1920, in California to John and Rena Miller. His father was a prominent attorney and a World War 1 veteran.
Brooks grew up in Los Angeles with two sisters—one older and one younger than him. In junior high he was part of the drama club.
Sometime in the early 1930s, his parents divorced, and in 1934, his mother remarried, and moved Brooks across the country to Norfolk, Virginia.
In March 1939, 18-year-old Brooks enlisted as a Private in the US Marine Corps. Private Miller was stationed at the Naval Operating Base in Norfolk until January 1941, when he was transferred to Mare Island Naval Shipyard on the San Francisco Bay in California.
About 7 months later – on August 4, 1941—Private First Class Brooks Miller married Marie Madsen in Carson City, Nevada. Brooks was 21 years old; Marie was 34.
Marie was a graduate of Fresno State College and taught elementary school in Del Rey, California, near Fresno and about 3 hours southeast of Mare Island.
The couple honeymooned in Northern California, and I have so many questions about their marriage!
First of all, how did they meet?
They lived and worked about 3 hours away from each other, so I’m curious how and when they could have run across each other.
Perhaps they knew each other from when Brooks lived in California before.
But…their age difference and geographical distance at that time just doesn’t make sense for them to have known each other previously.
Also, did they elope? And, if so, how long had they known each other?
The fact they married in Nevada could suggest an elopement. Carson City is a good 3.5-hour car ride away from Mare Island where Brooks was stationed.
And then there’s the fact that Marie was 13 years older than Brooks. That’s an unusual age spread for the woman being older, especially back in the 1940s
Well, despite all my questions, Brooks and Marie’s wedding announcement appeared more than a month later on September 11, 1941, in Marie Madsen’s hometown newspaper.
By the time of this announcement, Private First Class Miller was likely on his way to The Philippines. He was stationed at Cavite Navy Yard, just south of Manila, by the end of October 1941.
The Marines there would have been training, preparing for war and to defend Cavite from enemy attack.
While PFC Miller was toiling away in the hot Philippine sun, Marie Miller’s friends threw her a bridal shower. A Fresno newspaper article titled “Mrs. Brooks Miller Is Complimented by Miss Jean Coleman” described the party:
There were 24 guests at the shower, and they played games, presented shower gifts, and were served refreshments. The complete guest list appears in the newspaper article, which you can find on my website.

While a teenage Brooks Miller cross-crossed the United States, Louis Edward Sontag Jr stayed put in the Midwest. Louis was born October 16, 1917, in Hamilton, Ohio, to Helen and Louis Sontag Louis Sr. worked at a millinery shop, that’s a fancy word for hat shop.
Louis Sr. was born in Scotland—to Russian-born (and perhaps Jewish) parents. Helen was born in New York to Jewish immigrants from Hungary.
By the time Louis Jr was 12, the family had moved about 4 hours north to Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Louis Sr. continued working at a millinery shop.
Louis Jr.’s parents divorced in the early 1930s (just as Brooks Miller’s had). His father remarried and moved to Indiana, but Louis remained in Chicago with his mother Helen.
He graduated from Hyde Park High School around 1935, and reportedly went to college, but must have dropped out because in September 1939, Louis Jr. enlisted in the US Marine Corps and was sent almost immediately to the Marine Barracks at Mare Island Navy Yard.
He spent the next couple years at Mare Island and at the Marine Base in San Diego, and then in November 1940, was transferred across the Pacific to join the 4th Marines stationed in Shanghai. (You may recall the Major Frank Pyzick, from episode 1, was with the 4th Marines in Shanghai.)
Sontag would remain in Shanghai for a full year until mid-November 1941 when, in anticipation of hostilities with Japan, the 4th Marines were shipped to The Philippines. Sontag was assigned to the First Separate Marine Battalion, whose primary objective was to defend the Cavite Navy Yard.
Private Brooks Miller, also part of the 4th Marines First Separate Battalion, was already at Cavite when Sontag arrived.

During the War
[Narrator] Japan first attacked The Philippines on December 8, 1941. During the first few days, Japanese planes focused on US air force targets. And they successfully all but eradicated the US air force presence in The Philippines. The US was left with air strips full of bomb craters, destroyed airfield buildings, and mere remnants of their once-strong air-craft fleet.
With the US air force crippled, Japan next turned its sights on the United States’ naval presence in The Philippines.
So, two full days of war would pass before Miller and Sontag saw action at the navy yard, and it came with a vengeance. Trapped by fire and explosions on the Guadalupe Pier at Cavite Naval Yard, Sontag, Miller, and their Marine brothers tore up dock planks to build makeshift rafts.
They successfully evacuated all the trapped civilians, sailors, and Marines – as well as ammunition and weapons. They spent the night about 15 miles north of the Navy Yard.
The next day, Marines returned to the yard to patrol for looters and fires, and to bury the dead. The Marines used shovels to bury 250 bodies in a trench dug by a bulldozer. They set up field kitchens to feed civilians and servicemen. And they guarded fuel at the gas stations on the road to Manila, to ensure enough for military use.
In the days before Christmas 1941, Sontag and Miller and rest of their Marine Detachment began transferring from Cavite to Mariveles, an American base on the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula. Japanese forces had overrun Luzon Island so quickly that General Douglas MacArthur ordered all US and Filipino military to retreat to Bataan.
While the Sontag and Miller were preparing to evacuate to Bataan, their family back home may have tuned their radio on Christmas Eve to hear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt share a Christmas message, to a nation just beginning to realize the reality of war:
[Audio clip: Part of FDS’s Christmas speech, roughly 9:10-11:30 (probably edit it down to about 1 min or less). Portion that starts with “How can we light a tree?” to just before he announces a day of prayer. Followed by (or maybe plying over the Christmas carol “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”, which starts at 22:15 in the White House Tree Lighting Clip. Have the song play through Marine 1’s words.]
The last convoy out of Cavite on Christmas Day, halted near the town of San Roque, where they saw Filipinos cooking doughnuts alongside the road. Villagers had salvaged the precious flour from a sinking ship in Manila Harbor, and the Marines stopped to join the holiday feast.
While I have no idea if Miller or Sontag were part of that convoy, they undoubtedly arrived at Mariveles by Christmas night. It was a dreary Christmas, which one Marine described as
[Marine 1] “Probably the worst Christmas I ever spent. No food. Nip airplanes bombing over the bay and flying over our area all day long. No damned fun.”
[Narrator] Despite these Christmas travels and trials, Private Miller was able to send his wife Christmas greetings via cablegram (an overseas telegram). A fact that was duly reported in her local Fresno newspaper.
After a few days at Mariveles, Miller, Sontag, and the 4th Marines transferred 2 miles across a channel in Manila Bay to Corregidor Island, an island military base positioned to defend Manila Bay from attack.
They first took up residence in barracks, but within a few days were transferred to field positions, which for Brooks and Sontag’s battalion, was the beach. They immediately began setting up beach defenses of the island, which was no small feat, considering they had up to 4,000 yards of beach to defend with only 350 men.
For perspective, that’s like 40 football fields end-to-end, with 8 or 9 Marines defending the length of each football field.
The Marines built barbed wire barriers, tank traps, bunkers, and trench systems. They worked all day, stopping for 2 meals (food was being rationed), only taking breaks when Japanese forces were shelling or bombing the island (which they did quite regularly) and when it was too dark too work.
From January through early May 1942, Corregidor Island was under constant siege by Japanese forces. The air attacks and shelling intensified after US forces on Bataan surrendered in early April. Food became scarcer and scarcer for the Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor.
On May 6, 1942, Japanese ground forces landed on Corregidor Island. As part of the island’s beach defenses, Brooks and Sontag would have been part of the first defense, although the Japanese initial landings were not in the part of the island they was defending. The invading army quickly captured Corridor Island, and Private Sontag and Corporal Miller became Prisoners of War.
Back home in California, Mrs. Marie Miller soon received word from the armed forces that her husband was officially classified as Missing in Action. Marie had recently resigned as a teacher at Prairie Elementary School in her hometown of Del Rey and moved about 3 hours north to Berkeley to teach at an elementary school there.
Corporal Miller and Private Sontag were moving as well—being force marched and trained some 70 miles north to the Cabanatuan POW camps with the other American POWs captured on Corregidor. Neither man would remain there long, however.

Almost immediately after arriving at Cabanatuan, the POWs set up an underground mail system that, if I understand correctly, allowed POWs to get money from civilian internees and other influential people in Manila. The POWs would use the money to buy food from Filipino vendors near the Cabanatuan camps.
My great-grandfather, Alma Salm, knew Sontag at the Cabanatuan POW camps. Here’s Salm’s recollection of Sontag, read now by Salm’s great-grandson:
[Alma Salm] “One of the camp truck drivers, Sergeant Sontag, U.S. Marine Corps, a very likable fellow was one of our contact men. He was caught one day, searched and letters were found on him. He was severely beaten and given life imprisonment.”
That was in June 1942. Sontag had been a POW for all of 2 months, if that.
Fortunately, perhaps miraculously, and definitely unusually, Sontag’s sentence wasn’t carried out. A couple months later, Alma Salm was transferred to a different camp at Cabanatuan, where he ran into Sontag. The young Marine had been freed, his life sentence seemingly commuted.

In July 1942, the Japanese opened the Nichols Field Work Camp. Nichols Field was (before surrender) an American airbase just south of Manila, in the town of Pasay. The Japanese had plans to enlarge the airfield and turn it into the Pacific’s largest air base. They used American and Filipino POWs to build the runway – by hand.
Corporal Brooks Miller was likely among the first or second group of POWs sent to Nichols Field—although I can’t find records of transfers in and out of that camp.
Miller and the other POWs were housed in the former Pasay Elementary School, about 1 mile from the airfield. They slept on classroom floors, with their few personal belongings as pillows and thin bamboo mats for “beds.” Food—mainly rice and water—was extremely limited.
Each day, after being made to line up and counted by the guards, the POWs were marched the mile from the elementary school to Nichols Field, where they used shovels and pickaxes to level hills for the runway. They dug out the base of a hill until the dirt collapsed (and hopefully it wouldn’t bury them alive). They then loaded the dirt and rocks into small mining carts and hauled it away.
It was exhausting, backbreaking work. And since summer is the rainy season in The Philippines, the POWs were working in downpouring rain, sometimes in water and mud up to their knees, while wearing “scanty rags” for clothing—and required to meet a daily quota or endure beatings.

My great-grandfather referred to it as a
[Alma Salm] “Hell-hole of a work camp.”
[Narrator] Since few POWs understood the Japanese language, they made up nicknames for their Japanese guards. Among the camp leadership were “Cherry Blossom” and “White Angel.” “White Angel” was probably Lieutenant Keita Imoto, who was the camp commander. I don’t know Cherry Blossom’s actual name.
At night, the POWs were marched the mile back to Pasay Elementary School. Where they were again lined up and counted by the guards. At bedtime, Cherry Blossom would again count the POWs, who were supposed to be in their “beds” at the time.
But one night in fall 1942, Alma Salm wrote that something went wrong:
[Alma Salm] “One night ‘Cherry Blossom’ on his routine check-up found one man short. And then all ‘hell broke loose.’ A Marine by the name of Miller, a corporal I believe, had reached the limit of his endurance. Under cover of darkness he escaped over the high back fence where it formed a juncture with the roof of a small rear toilet only a few feet from the main prison building. ‘Cherry Blossom’ ranted and railed and cursed and slapped the men around for three days. Then the ’White Angel’ charged in and loosened a torrent of outbursts on us. The escape of a prisoner always gives the Jap in command a black mark … with his superiors.”
[Narrator] Corporal Miller’s escape was broadcast to Japanese patrols in and around Manila. By this time all white civilians had been put in internment camps, so a white American man stood out in a community made up solely of Asians and Filipinos. Corporal Miller’s skin color meant he had little chance of successful escape, even if he connected with Filipino allies.
And so it happened, that three days later, Corporal Miller was spotted in a carromata (a light 2-wheeled carriage) on Jones Street Bridge in the middle of Manila. Japanese sentries quickly identified the white man as the missing Marine and took him into custody.
Alma Salm recorded that Corporal Miller was at least afforded a court martial, even if it was an unfair one. He was sentenced to death.
Back at Nichols Field, White Angel had the remaining POWs assemble in formation. After a verbal lashing, he shared some words about Corporal Miller:
[White Angel] “’I was so sorra to kill such a brave men. Yes, I hated to cut off his head with my sword, but he die like true fashion, but I gave him so good funeral, so after they throw dirt on him, I puttee some beautiful flowers on his grave.”
[Narrator] The entire work detail was then marched by a grave purported to be Millers. Reports say the Japanese guards beat him severely, beheaded him, and possibly shot him. None of the POWs actually witnessed the execution, but Miller was never definitely seen or heard from since that date.
Something to note: Howard Humphreys, a Marine Private, swore in 1944 that the POWs were marched by Miller’s grave on October 5, 1942. And that date has become Miller’s official death date.
However, Salm didn’t arrive at Nichols Filed until November or December 1942. And Salm’s account makes it sound like he was at Nichols when Miller escaped and was killed. So that would mean Miller escaped later than October 1942.
One possible explanation is that Humphreys misremembered when Miller escaped; more than a year passed before Humphrey’s report was created. Perhaps exact dates got mixed up.
It’s also possible that Salm is recounting a story he heard once he arrived at Nichols Field. Although he does the use the word “us” to describe White Angel’s reaction, making it sound like Salm endured the verbal tongue lashing when Miller escaped.
Regardless of the actual date of death, Miller’s status was “Nonrecoverable” – meaning his body couldn’t not be found or identified at war’s end. He was 22 years old.

During the time that Brooks Miller and Alma Salm were at Nichols Field, Sontag was taking a very different journey.
On November 11, 1942, about a year after he’d arrived in The Philippines from Shanghai, Private Sontag was loaded onto the Japanese ship Nagato Maru with 1,600 other POWs. They arrived at Moji, Japan, a couple weeks later, and on November 27, 1942, Sontag and 400 of his fellow POW travelers, arrived at the Yodogawa Branch Camp near Osaka, Japan.
Sontag was an acting clerk and kept a diary of their entry into Yodogawa:
[Louis Sontag] “Upon arrival in Osaka we were very cold, disgruntled and hungry lot of men who were compelled to stand by and listen to instructions in Japanese commands. Their commands are much the same as ours. Strictly designed for military efficiency and carrying the same importance.

“We all then swore an oath that we would not attempt to escape and that to the best of our ability we would faithfully discharge our new duties.”
[Narrator] He referred to their Japanese supervisor as “young and likable” and to the Camp Interpreter as “a nice fellow” who tried to help the POWs. Definitely a contrast to Corporal Miller’s guards at Nichols Field. There are so many horror stories of Japanese guards at the POW camps, that I do appreciate hearing about something akin to kindness.
[Louis Sontag] “Our quarters are large and very airy. They are in the remote corner of a barrel factory. Comfort during the daylight hours is very difficult, due to the cold. Our bodies can't stand this weather on the diet we have been forced to subsist on.”
[Narrator] The average November temperature in this area ranges from 49-63 degrees Fahrenheit. That doesn’t seem too cold to me, but they were coming from The Philippines where the average temp was 78-88 degrees, so perhaps that had something to do with how cold it seemed to the POWs. Also, the men were malnourished and starving. They had no or little body fat. And feeling cold is a byproduct of starvation.
For the next two years, Sergeant Sontag and the other Yodogawa POWs worked in steel plants—smelting, casting molds, on forges and lathes. They also repaired electronics, manufactured nuts, bolts, and steel helmets, and worked with armor plating. IN other words, Japan was using their POW force to make things to fight the war.
During this time, he had very little contact with his family. His mother received a few notes from him, and he received a care package from his mother. And then, in February 1945, Sontag received a Red Cross Card from…his wife in Shanghai!
Wait, what? His wife? I was very surprised when I discovered this, since all of Sontag’s military records list his mother as his next of kin. That’s usually a sign that the POW was single.
The card read:
[Nina Sontag] “Darling Louis, How are you. Darling am very worried about you. Let me know about yourself. I am well. Have you news from mother. Love always your wife. Nina Sontag”
[Narrator] Nina Marich Sontag was born to Russian (and likely Jewish) parents in April 1921 in Harbin, a city in northeast China, and very near the Russian border. Harbin has long had a Russian population and influence, especially after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when some 100,000 Russian refugees fled to Harbin.
The city had a sizeable Jewish population, many of whom fled to Shanghai and other China cities when Japan invaded the region in 1931 because of Japan’s ties to anti-Semitic fascists. So I think it’s quite possible that Nina Marich was a Russian Jewish refugee from Harbin who fled to Shanghai.
I can’t find record of a marriage, but I believe that Private Louis Sontag likely met and married Nina Marich in Shanghai while he was stationed there from 1940-1941.
Sadly, though, her darling Louis was not well. He died 2 months later, on April 21, 1945, of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, a bacterial lung infection that is especially dangerous when someone’s immune system is too weakened to fight the infection—such as people who are worked too hard, while being starved. Starvation was an extremely common cause of death at Yodogawa. Louis Sontag was 28 years old.
After the war, Nina Marich Sontag emigrated to Brazil and eventually married an American, relocated to California, and became a US citizen. I have her Brazil visa card with a stunning picture of her on my website, see the link in the show description. She died in 2007 at age 86.

After the War & Legacy
[Narrator] Back in California (and a few years earlier), Mrs. Marie Miller received word from the Red Cross in March 1943 that her husband Corporal Brooks Miller was a POW of the Japanese. By this time, Brooks had been dead, killed at Nichols Field, some 3-6 months previously.
Two years later, in January 1945, the war had turned, and POWs were beginning to come home. Marie Miller was working for the Red Cross, distributing questionnaires to returning POWs to find out what happened to men reported Missing in Action. She still had not received word that Brooks was dead.
Seven months later, in July 1945, Marie became the Red Cross Field Director at Ford Ord near Monterrey, California. A newspaper article informed readers that:
[Reporter] “Her husband, Corporal Brooks Miller of the army, was taken prisoner by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor.”
[Narrator] In other words, she still didn’t know Brooks had died more than 2.5 years earlier. But she would eventually find out, although I haven’t been able to discover exactly when the news reached her.
In August 1946, 38-year-old Marie Madsen Miller married a WW2 vet who served in the Pacific Theater. She died in Maryland in March 1972, at age 65. From what I can tell she never had children—with either Brooks or Eugene.

After WW2’s dust cleared, Japanese officials, commanders, and even individual guards faced trial for war crimes committed against Allied POWs.
On October 16, 1947, former Japanese Lt Keita Imoto (known to POWs as “White Angel”) went on trial in Yokohama, Japan, with 4 other officers for war crimes committed at Nichols Field during WW2.
Imoto was specifically charged with beheading Corporal Brooks Miller. The officers were charged with other deaths, torture, and war crimes, such as forcing massive amounts of water down a POW’s throat, then jumping on the man’s stomach. One US newspaper reported:
[Reporter] “The list of [the 5 officers’] victims … takes [up] almost both sides of a letterhead when single spaced.”
[Narrator] Six weeks later, US newspapers reported that all 5 Japanese officers were convicted of war crimes against American POWs.

The crimes against POWs were horrific and inhumane, but they weren’t limited to American servicemen. Filipino servicemen suffered greatly at the hands of their Japanese captors.
And next week I’ll tell you the story of one of these brave Filipino servicemen, who faced down invading Japanese ground forces as part of the last-horse mounted cavalry in the US Army.
This is Left Behind.

Outro
Thanks for listening! You can find pictures and maps of Brooks Miller and Louis Sontag and their story on my website; the links are in the show description. You’ll also find a list of sources I used and a timeline of Miller’s and Sontag’s lives.
If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe. And consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Reviews help others find this podcast so I can continue sharing these amazing stories.
Left Behind is researched, written, recorded, edited, and produced by me, Anastasia Harman. Re-enactments are based on historical research, although some creative liberty is taken.
I’ll be back next week with Japan’s ground invasion of The Philippines.

Sources
BROOKS MILLER
Brooks Miller entry “US, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2010, original data: National Archives and Records Administration, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese File, 2007 Update, 1941-1945, ARC ID: 212383, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese Data Files, 4/2005 - 10/2007, ARC ID: 731002, Records of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Collection ADBC, ARC: 718969, National Archives at College Park. College Park, Maryland, accessed 13 November 2022.
Brooks Miller entry “US, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945”; Brooks Miller entry, “World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2005, original data: World War II Prisoners of War Data File [Archival Database], Records of World War II Prisoners of War, 1942-1947, Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, Record Group 389, National Archives at College Park, College Park, Md., accessed 13 November 2022.
Brooks Miller entry, “U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group A (Recoverable), 1941-1975)”, database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah, original data: Unaccounted-for Remains, Group A, 1941-1975. Washington, D.C. USA: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, accessed 13 November 2022.
John J Miller family, “1930 United States Federal Census,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2002, original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930, T626, 2,667 rolls, accessed 13 November 2022.
Brooks Miller, Burr S’34, John Burroughs Junior High School, Los Angeles, California, 1934, in “US School Yearbooks, 1900-2016,” database online: Ancsetry.com, Lehi, Utah, 2010, accessed 13 November 2022.
Brooks Miller, “1940 United States Federal Census,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2012, Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940, T627, 4,643 roll, accessed 13 November 2022.
Brooks Miller entry, January 1941, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958,” ,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2007, original data: Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1798-1892, Microfilm Publication T1118, 123 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1893-1958, Microfilm Publication T977, 460 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives in Washington, D.C., accessed 17 November 2022.
“Marie Madsen Now Mrs. Brooks Miller,” The Selma Enterprise, Selma, California, 11 September 1941, page 6, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 13 November 2022.
Brooks Miller and Marie Madsen entry, “Carson City, Nevada, U.S., Marriage Index, 1855-1985,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2015, original data: Carson City Marriage Records, Carson City Recorder's Office, Carson City, Nevada, accessed 13 November 2022.
Brooks Miller entry, October 1941, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2007, original data: Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1798-1892, Microfilm Publication T1118, 123 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1893-1958, Microfilm Publication T977, 460 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives in Washington, D.C., accessed 17 November 2022.
“Mrs. Brooks Miller Is Complemented by Miss Jean Coleman,” The Fresno Bee, 25 November 1941, page 8, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
Louis Sontag and Brooks Miller entries, Roster of the 4th Marine Regiment, online at https://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/Marines/4M-Roster.htm, accessed 4 June 2022
J. Michael Miller, “The 1st Separate Marine Battalion,” From Shanghai to Corregidor: Marines in the Defense of the Philippines, online at https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003140-00/sec2.htm#1, accessed 4 June 2022.
Corp. BrookS Miller memorial, Find a Grave, online at
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56784259/brooks-miller, accessed 4 June 2022.
John J. Domalgalski, “Disaster at Cavite,” US Naval Institute, online at https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2018/december/disaster-cavite, accessed 4 June 2022.
“Cavite Navy Yard Burns after Japanese Air Rad,” The World War II Multimedia Database, online at https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1434, accessed 4 June 2022.
J. Michael Miller, “Concentration at Mariveles,” From Shanghai to Corregidor: Marines in the Defense of the Philippines, online at https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003140-00/sec8.htm, accessed 17 November 2022.
J. Michael Miller, “Christmas Day,” From Shanghai to Corregidor: Marines in the Defense of the Philippines, online at https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003140-00/sec8.htm, accessed 17 November 2022.
J. Michael Miller, “Corregidor,” From Shanghai to Corregidor: Marines in the Defense of the Philippines, online at https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003140-00/sec10.htm, accessed 17 November 2022.
J. Michael Miller, “Deployment,” From Shanghai to Corregidor: Marines in the Defense of the Philippines, online at https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003140-00/sec11.htm, accessed 17 November 2022.
“News Is Received from Men in Service,” The Selma Enterprise, 1 January 1942, page 7, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
Brooks Miller entry, January 1942, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958.”
Mrs. F. E. Thornton, Correspondent, “Del Rey,” The Selma Enterprise, 15 January 1942, page 6, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
“Husband of Del Rey Teacher Prisoner of Japanese,” The Selma Enterprise, Selma, California, 1 April 1943, page 6, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
Affidavit of Howard W. Humphreys, found online at Corp Brooks Miller memorial, Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56784259/brooks-miller, accessed 13 November 2022. Note: I don’t know what record group this comes from, but it is a picture of an official, WW2-looking affidavit, similar to what I’ve seen elsewhere.
Alma Salm, “Luzon Holiday,” typewritten manuscript, pages 131-32, in possession of Anastasia M. Harman, as of 13 November 2022.
“Nicholas Field Pasay Japanese Commanders and Guards,” Excel file, Nichols Field, Philippines (Pasay Camp), Roger Mansell’s Center for Research, Allied POWs under the Japanese, online at http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/philippines/nichols_pasay/nichols_pasay.html, accessed 17 November 2022; “Slayer of Del Rey Soldier Goes on Trial in Japan,” The Fresno Bee, Fresno, California, 16 Oct 1947, page 28, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
Brooks Miller entry, “U.S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2007, original data: United States, Army, Quartermaster General’s Office, Rosters of World War II Dead (all services), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army, accessed 13 November 2022.
“19 Oakland Area Marines among 952 Held as Prisoners by Japanese,” Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, 25 May 1943, page 4, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
Photo caption, Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, 8 Feb 1945, page 16, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
Mrs. F. E. Thornton, Correspondent, “Del Rey,” The Selma Enterprise, 29 March 1945, page 6, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
“Mrs. Marie Miller Is Field Director,” The Fresno Bee, 8 July 1945, page 5, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
“Marie Miller Is Soldier’s Bride,” The Fresno Bee, 25 August 1946, page 23, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
“Slayer of Del Rey Soldier Goes on Trial in Japan,” The Fresno Bee, Fresno, California, 16 Oct 1947, page 28, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
No author, No title, The Walthill Citizen, 6 November 1947, page 2, column 1, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
“Japanese Face Trial in Death of Checotahn,” The McIntosh County Democrat, Checotah, Oklahoma, 23 October 1947, page 1, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.
Obituary for “Quillen,” The Evening Sun, 3 March 1972, page 40, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 17 November 2022.

LOUIS SONTAG
Louis Edward Sontag Junior entry, “US, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2010, original data: National Archives and Records Administration, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese File, 2007 Update, 1941-1945. ARC ID: 212383, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese Data Files, 4/2005 - 10/2007, ARC ID: 731002, Records of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Collection ADBC, ARC: 718969, National Archives at College Park. College Park, Maryland, accessed 25 November 2022;
Louis Edward Sontag entry, “U.S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2007, original data: United States, Army, Quartermaster General’s Office, Rosters of World War II Dead (all services), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army, accessed 25 November 2022.
Louis E Sontag entry, “World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2005, original data: World War II Prisoners of War Data File [Archival Database], Records of World War II Prisoners of War, 1942-1947, Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, Record Group 389, National Archives at College Park, College Park, Md., accessed 25 November 2022
Louis Edward Sontag entry, “U.S., World War II Jewish Servicemen Cards, 1942-1947,” database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah, original data: Alphabetical Master Cards, 1942–1947, Series VI, Card Files—Bureau of War Records, Master Index Cards, 1943–1947, National Jewish Welfare Board, Bureau of War Records, 1940–1969, I-52; boxes 273–362, New York, New York: American Jewish Historical Society, Center for Jewish History, accessed 25 November 2022
Sontag entry, “Ohio, U.S., Birth Index, 1908-1998,” online database: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2012, original data: Ohio Birth Records. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Vital Records Office, accessed 25 November 2022
Louis Edward Sontag entry, “U.S., Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 17725-2019,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2006, original data: National Cemetery Administration, Nationwide Gravesite Locator, accessed 25 November 2022
Louis Edward Sontag entry, “US, National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2012, original data: Interment Control Forms, 1928–1962, Interment Control Forms, A1 2110-B, NAID: 5833879, Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, The National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, accessed 25 November 2022
Louis E Santoy entry, “1940 United States Federal Census,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2012, Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940, T627, 4,643 roll, accessed 25 November 2022.
Helen Horowitz and Louis E Sontag entry, “New York, New York, Index to Marriage Licenses, 1908-1910, 1938-1940,” database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah, 2020, original data: New York City Department of Records & Information Services, New York City Marriage Licenses, accessed 26 November 2022
Louis Sontag family, “1910 United States Federal Census,” Database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, UT, 2006, Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls), Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., accessed 26 November 2022.
Louis Sontag family, “1920 United States Federal Census,” Database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, UT, 2010, original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920 (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls), Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C, accessed 25 November 2022.
Louis E. Sontag family, “1930 United States Federal Census,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2002, original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930, T626, 2,667 rolls, accessed 25 November 2022.
“Hyde Park, Chicago,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park,_Chicago.
Louis Sontag and Eva Davis entry, “Web: Marion Country, Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1925-2012,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2010, original data: Marriage Record Search, Marion County, Indiana, Circuit Court, http://www.biz.indygov.org/apps/civil/marriage/search: accessed 1 July 2012 (no longer available), accessed 26 November 2022.
“Filipino GI gives mayor a mystery,” Chicago Sun, Chicago, Illinois, 20 January 1945, page 7, online at GenealogyBank.com, accessed 26 November 2022.
Louis E Sontag entry, November 1940, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958”; Louis E Sontag entry, September 1939, Central Recruiting Division, 706 US Court House Bldg, Chicago, Illinois, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958”; Louis E Sontag entry, September 1939, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958.”
Louis E Sontag entry, September 1939, Central Recruiting Division, 706 US Court House Bldg, Chicago, Illinois, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958”; Louis E Sontag entry, September 1939, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958.”
Louis E Sontag entry, November 1940, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2007, original data: Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1798-1892, Microfilm Publication T1118, 123 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1893-1958, Microfilm Publication T977, 460 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives, Washington, D.C., accessed 27 November 2022.
“Navy Announces 302 More Casualties, Mainly in Manila Action Believed Jap Prisoners,” Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 2 June 1942, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 26 November 2022.
Alma Salm, “Luzon Holiday,” typewritten manuscript, page 58, in possession of Anastasia M. Harman, as of 27 November 2022.
Bob R Whitecotton, “Chart 1: List of Hellship Voyages in Chronological Sequence of Departure Date,” Japanese-pow Home Page, https://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/ShipsNum.htm, accessed 27 November 2022;
Roger Mansell, “Osaka POW Camp #3-D: Yodogawa Dispatch Camp,” Center for Research: Allied POWs Under the Japanese, http://mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/osaka/Yodogawa/yodogawa.html, accessed 27 November 2022.
Bob R Whitecotton, “Chart 1: List of Hellship Voyages in Chronological Sequence of Departure Date”; Roger Mansell, “Osaka POW Camp #3-D: Yodogawa Dispatch Camp.”
Louis Sontag and William B. Reardon, “Yodogawa Diary,” transcription online: Roger Mansell, Center for Research: Allied POWs Under the Japanese, http://mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/osaka/Yodogawa/readon_yodogawa_diary.html, original data: University of New Mexico, Center for Southwest Studies, MSS 345 Bill Reardon files Written by Louis Sontag, USMC, acting clerk for an organization diary AND Major William B. Reardon. Diary is not complete and pages are missing in this web page, accessed 27 November 2022.
“Bataan Prisoner Radios Mother Message of Love,” Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 7 December 1943, page 2, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 26 November 2022.
“Louis Sontag Succumbs Following Heart Attack,” The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana, 8 August 1944, page 13, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 26 November 2022.
“Gets 1st Note in 15 Months from Son Held by Japs,” Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 19 January 1945, page 11, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 26 November 2022.
“Osaka No.3 Dispatched Camp Yodogawa),” POW Research Network Japan, PDF format, page 5, “List of Deceased POWs,” POW Research Network Japan, http://www.powresearch.jp/en/archive/powlist/camplink.html#osaka, accessed 27 November 2022; Roger Mansell, “Yodogawa POW Camp: Roster (part 2) based upon Dr. Richardson’s Diary,” Center for Research: Allied POWs Under the Japanese, http://mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/osaka/Yodogawa/yodogawa_roster_2.html, accessed 27 November 2022.
Roger Mansell, “Yodogawa POW Camp: Roster (part 2) based upon Dr. Richardson’s Diary”; Robert Logan Hudson, “Draft Rosters of Army POWs Showing Transfers from Bilibid Prison to Other Camps in 1944 or Earlier,” revised 27 May 2014, online at https://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/HudsonFast/BilibidDbf.htm, original data: Extracted from National Archives in College Park, Maryland, October 2008 and March 2009, accessed 27 November 2022.
“Harbin,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin, accessed 27 November 2022.
Nina Sontag, “Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965,” database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah, 2016, original data: "Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965," FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2013, Index entries derived from digital copies of original and compiled records, accessed 27 November 2022.
Nina Henke, Naturalization Petition, “California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1983-1999,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2014, original data: Naturalization Records, National Archives at Riverside, Peris, California, and Naturalization Records, National Archives at San Francisco, San Bruno, California, accessed 27 November 2022.
Nina Henke entry, “U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2014, original data: Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File, Social Security Administration, accessed 27 November 2022.
louis E Sontag entry, October 1945, “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2007, original data: Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1798-1892, Microfilm Publication T1118, 123 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1893-1958, Microfilm Publication T977, 460 rolls, ARC ID: 922159, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127, National Archives, Washington, D.C., accessed 25 November 2022
“Six Chicagoans on Casualty List: Four Reported Dead by Navy Department,” Chicago Sun, Chicago, Illinois, 6 November 1945, page 12, online at GEnealogyBank.com, accessed 26 November 2022.
Louis Edward Sontag entry, “U.S., Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960,” database online: Ancsetry.com, Provo, Utah, 2012, original data: Burial Ledgers, The National Cemetery Administration, Washington, D.C. (Original records transferred to NARA: Burial Registers, compiled 1867-2006, documenting the period 1831-2006, ARC ID: 5928352, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773–2007, Record Group 15, National Archives, Washington, D.C.) and Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Office of the Quartermaster General (09/18/1947–08/01/1962), Burial Registers of Military Post and National Cemeteries, compiled ca. 1862–ca. 1960, ARC ID: 4478151, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., accessed 25 November 2022.