Title: Give Us This Day
Author: Sidney Stewart
Publisher: W. N. Norton & Company
Date: Original: 1956, Republished 1986
Pages: 254
Give Us This Day (book review)
Sidney Stewart, the author, writes his story of his experience in the Philippines during World War II. He was in the army to help with the battles while stationed in the Philippines.
At some point, the Americans were overrun by the Japanese army and around 70,000 or more were captured as prisoners. Sidney was one of those captured. He tells his story of the Bataan Death March and the many prisons that he and friends of his were in. What started out with 70,000 soldiers in the beginning ended with only a few hundred surviving.
His story talks about the survival in prisons where there was not even enough room to sit down. As soldiers died, others would have to stand upon them. They were moved from one prison to another. Sometimes they were fed somewhat better, most of the time they barely had any food or water to live on.
They struggled with hearing rumors that Americans were coming to rescue them, and nothing happened. At other times, American bombers bombed the buildings or ships they were in.
One of the men that helped keep going to survive was Father William Cummings, a Catholic priest. Father Cummings would pray every day for the soldiers the Lord’s prayer with a focus on “give us this day”. Sidney held on to that prayer and believed God for it.
Sidney always wanted to be a writer and many of his friends in the war told him that he would have to write their story someday. None of his friends survived the war. It is only by a miracle of God that Sidney survives.
If you are interested in war history or biographies, I highly recommend reading this book. It will bring tears to your eyes and anger to your heart to hear of the horrors that these men went through. It does get very graphic in details at times that is not for the faint of heart.
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