Posted on Jan 15, 2021
From prison camp to military service to Brevard: Doctor's long and winding road
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Flight Surgeon
61H: Family Medicine
Marines
Vietnam War
WWII World War Two
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“My parents were over in the Philippines as teachers,” Tyson said.
The Philippines were an American protectorate, and many Americans lived on the islands. One day after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Philippine Islands.
“The Japanese took the island and captured us and they sent us to prison camp,” Tyson said.
Tyson and his family spent three years and three months as prisoners of war. Tyson remembers a disturbing story about the Japanese his mother told him when he was older.
“They had been told that all the prisoners were going to be shot. This was right when the Americans were coming in,” Tyson said. “All the mothers had decided they were going to kill their children. They would smother their children so that they wouldn't see what was happening.”
The rumor of a mass execution of the prisoners turned out not to be true, and Tyson’s mother was spared the awful act of having to smother her child. By the time American soldiers liberated Tyson’s prison camp, he was old enough to have his own memories of what he called giant yellow men.
“This pilot came in and said, ‘My gosh, I haven’t seen a kid in four years, you are going to ride up front with me on the transport’,” Tyson said.
Tyson left the Philippines as a 4-year-old POW survivor and remembers the flight to Gaum.
“As we were flying, he said, ‘Here is a pistol. You sit up here with me and if you see any Japanese, you shoot them’,” Tyson said.
Wow, just wow...to have those memories as a four year old...
The Philippines were an American protectorate, and many Americans lived on the islands. One day after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Philippine Islands.
“The Japanese took the island and captured us and they sent us to prison camp,” Tyson said.
Tyson and his family spent three years and three months as prisoners of war. Tyson remembers a disturbing story about the Japanese his mother told him when he was older.
“They had been told that all the prisoners were going to be shot. This was right when the Americans were coming in,” Tyson said. “All the mothers had decided they were going to kill their children. They would smother their children so that they wouldn't see what was happening.”
The rumor of a mass execution of the prisoners turned out not to be true, and Tyson’s mother was spared the awful act of having to smother her child. By the time American soldiers liberated Tyson’s prison camp, he was old enough to have his own memories of what he called giant yellow men.
“This pilot came in and said, ‘My gosh, I haven’t seen a kid in four years, you are going to ride up front with me on the transport’,” Tyson said.
Tyson left the Philippines as a 4-year-old POW survivor and remembers the flight to Gaum.
“As we were flying, he said, ‘Here is a pistol. You sit up here with me and if you see any Japanese, you shoot them’,” Tyson said.
Wow, just wow...to have those memories as a four year old...
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Lt Col Charlie Brown
From prison camp to military service to Brevard: Doctor's long and winding road
Dr. James Tyson may not be a native of Transylvania County, but he has earned the respect of many native Transylvanians through his practice, Brevard Medical Associates.
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