Oral History Interview with Donald Den Daas, March 3, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Donald Den Daas, March 3, 1995

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Den Daas. Den Daas was born in Jakarta, Indonesia 4 November 1920. Upon graduating from the University of Jakarta in July 1940, he was called into the Royal Netherlands Army. Selected to attend the Royal Netherland Academy in Bandung, Indonesia, he graduated in March 1942 as a warrant officer concerned with logistics. Soon after the Japanese invaded, he was placed into a prisoner of war camp at Bandung. He escaped from the POW camp in April 1942, and describes the measures he took to avoid capture. After escaping he traveled to Surabaya where he joined forces with four others and made plans to sail to Australia by a small fishing boat. Before the plans could be carried out they were betrayed and the boat owner was arrested. Remaining in Surabaya, he joined a group of former Academy cadets, who began making sandals and doing miscellaneous jobs to sustain themselves. He was arrested by the Kempeitai in September 1944 and he graphically describes the torture he endured. Soon after the atomic bomb was dropped, Den Daas and some others who had endured torture were shipped to a camp …
Date: March 3, 1995
Creator: Den Daas, Donald
System: The Portal to Texas History