"As I turned to pick up my duffel bag, I noticed the old bum standing by me. He had that big, friendly proud grin showing those sparkling white teeth.

'Thanks,' I said. 'How can I get in touch with you so I can repay you some day?'His reply was, 'Just do what you have to do, I'll be with you in spirit.'"

There are few men with such amazing stories to tell about the horrors and hardships of war as Clarence "Cal" Graham.

And there are even fewer who could describe the amazing stories in such a frank, forthright and frightening way as the rural Canby man.

U.S. Army Sgt. C.M. Graham survived the onslaught of invading Japanese forces on the Philippine islands of Corregidor and Luzon, 42 months as a slave-driven prisoner of war, and seeing the atomic bomb explode over Nagasaki.

He lived to tell of both the unconscionable acts of barbarism inflicted on prisoners of war, and the random acts of human kindness that raised spirits and lifted his soul during the 1939-45 World War II.

Nebraska-born Graham wanted to be sent to a "hot spot" in the war, and was dispatched to southeast Asia. He spent his 21st birthday on the old ship Republic, celebrating with crackers, sardines and Coke.

The son of a farming family was stationed with an anti-aircraft battery on the Bataan Peninsula, and found life on the Philippines was initially relaxed, complete with colorful birds and monkeys.

All that changed when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, igniting fierce fighting in the Pacific Theater. In fact, the once sedate way of life altered overnight to one of hand-to-hand fights to the death in dense jungle with wave after wave of invading enemy forces.

American soldiers and Filipino civilians alike were murdered in the fields and in the prison camps day after day after day until liberation finally came.

"We (the world) lost over 55 million people in World War II, and over 3 million are still unaccounted for more than 50 years later," said Graham, who received the Purple Heart for his unflinching bravery.

"That's the heavy price we paid for freedom, and that's what people should know as they enjoy freedom now."

On Sept. 16, Graham and other Canby area veterans paid their respects to fallen and missing comrades from the 20th century's many costly wars at Zion Memorial Cemetery.

The soft-spoken, bespectacled Graham, 80, knew better than most what it was like to be incarcerated by the enemy - he was a prisoner of war in Japanese labor camps and coal mines for three and a half years in the 1940s.

But Graham, a doting grandfather to 10 grandchildren, is not angry or vengeful about his experiences almost 60 years ago and half a world away.

"Quite often, veterans write bitter accounts, but I don't think you gain anything in that," he said. "There should be a lesson in there and, hopefully, mine has one."

In fact, it was Graham's candid and lucid accounts of wartime life and death which inspired NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw to write the "The Greatest Generation Speaks," his second book about the men and women who came out of the Great Depression, fought in WWII, and returned home to kick-start the economic prosperity Americans and other nationalities continue to enjoy to this day.

"I thought he did a real nice job," said Graham, who met Brokaw at the June 1-3 Celebrate Freedom event at the Fort Vancouver, Wash., National Historic Reserve, which was attended by 3,500 veterans and their families.

"He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Well, Cal, you're the reason I wrote the second book.' He gave credit to the nucleus and backbone of this country, who were deprived of almost everything, and then went off to fight a war on two fronts."

After retiring from the U.S. Forest Service, the man who hails from the tiny farming community of Firth, Neb. - "I walked four miles to school and back every day" - eventually put pen to paper about his wartime accounts.

Spurred on by his wife of 54 years, Doris, and their four children, Graham said he was initially "gently persuaded" and eventually "worn down" by his family's urging to document for all time his poignant and harrowing memoirs of wartime.

(The couple had married in rural Nebraska a month after he liberated himself from POW camp in April 1946.)

For decades, the memories were too painful to write about, he conceded, but their historical importance never diminished.

"I didn't like to talk about it so I stalled on it for 50 years," he said, "but Doris and the kids got after me about writing it."

Finding out specific dates of events was the hardest part, and he was disappointed to find some inaccuracies while sifting through U.S. military records.

"I didn't know the days, but I knew the details royal," he said. "In every paragraph, I made sure I said something that let the reader know exactly what I was going through."

He succeeded, providing depth of feeling and historical context in his true page-turner of a memoir. From tales of killing a 13-foot cobra and a scorpion in the wild to outwitting a far larger invading force, he recounts many memorable moments.

After writing and editing his book for two years, Graham self published "Under the Samurai Sword" in 1998, printing off a first run of 300 copies at a Kinko's store.

The first batch sold out so quickly that a second printing of 100 copies was made.

"The main thing was I wanted to get it all down for our children," Graham said. "But I also think it can be a good message for family life in the future . . . This period isn't usually covered in schools, and it's important young people know what happened in the past."

And how different the present would be if the U.S.-led Allied Forces had not defeated Nazi Germany in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific in 1945.

"If they hadn't stopped (Adolf) Hitler, who had the most powerful army in the world, we would have been dominated by a dictatorship, and we would have lost our individual freedoms," he said.

"Japan could have conquered the U.S. They were great planners and strategists. We didn't think anybody was as good as we were. The Japanese could do much more with very little than we could with a whole lot, and they were very dedicated . . . It was crucial that we stopped them."

And it is thanks to the bravery of Graham, fellow surviving WWII veterans, and their fallen and missing comrades that the Axis powers of Germany, Japan and Italy were eventually thwarted in their genuine bid for world domination.

What follows are selected quotations from Graham's captivating 216-page account of war in the Pacific Theater. A second story completing his wartime experiences will be published in next Wednesday's Herald.

Before the U.S. Navy's fleet in Pearl Harbor was bombed in a surprise attack by Japanese airplanes on Dec. 7, 1941, Graham and fellow soldiers enjoyed a life. After Dec. 7, they fought hard just to stay alive as war erupted in the South Pacific.

Bombing is imminent

"The heavy drone grew louder. The very ground seemed to vibrate. The buzz of the jungle ceased. Everything became strangely quiet except for that increasing throbbing of those heavy engines.

''We waited but still could not see them . . . Then, out of a bank of white puffy clouds, they came - shining big silver bombers in perfect "V" formations. They were going to come right over us, like a flock of huge geese."

Food in short supply

"When troops pulled back into Bataan there were less than 20 days ration of rice, 30 days of flour, and 50 days of canned meat or fish . . . This would feed the 80,000 troops and 26,000 civilians packed into the area for less than one month . . . Men were dying in the trenches, not only from enemy fire, but also from lack of food. We on Bataan were put on half-rations almost immediately.

''Hunger nagged at everyone constantly. The craving for food made the digestive juices flow, causing painful stomach cramps and irritation to stomach ulcers . . . Everyone was constantly searching for both the enemy and anything edible. Food shortage now became another deadly enemy."

Waiting for reinforcements

"Repeated reports from Washington, that help was on the way, proved to be false when by mid-January, no ships, or planes, or help arrived . . . It was around this time when someone, or several, composed the following little ditty which became famous: 'We are the Battling Bastards of Bataan - no mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam, no aunts, no uncles, no nephews, no nieces, no rifles, no planes, no artillery pieces, and nobody gives a damn!'"

Life and death in the jungle

"Jungle fighting, being a life and death matter, not only puts the soldier under the usual battle stress, but also tortures him with masses of mosquitoes by night and hordes of biting flies by day. In addition, there are lice, fleas, leaches and spiders of all kinds. Hunger and fever are also constant companions.

''Sleep is not sleep at all - but a state of exhaustion. Like a wild animal, the mind and body are attuned to react to any unusual sound or movement.

Actual sleep could lead to death.

''Danger is not only from the enemy, but also from poison snakes, insects and even some of the spiny and poisonous vines. There is no bed or blanket for a combat soldier. He just drops for a moment or more just where he is. Drenching rains, chills and itchy fungus feet are just part of it."

Kill or be killed, friend or foe?

". . . I pointed my bayonet and braced myself. Then, with a hideous yell, he charged. My bayonet caught the onslaught dead center because he went neither left nor right, but his momentum sent me over backwards with him on top of me. As he was groping around in pain for something, I was bale to pull out my pistol and place a round into his spine.

''I heard other footsteps hurriedly retreating back down the trail. My would-be assassin lay still. After freeing my feet and getting my bayonet out I headed back up the trail. Being too concerned about the bleeding from my left side, I completely forgot about the password.

'''Halt!''' yelled the guard. In a squeaky voice that even surprised me, I replied, 'Just me.' Then BANG! went his gun, and his bullet whistled just over my head.

'''Damn it!' I yelled back, more in a normal one now, 'It's me, Graham.' 'You stupid (bleep),' he said. 'Why give a password if you aren't going to use it?'

'''Just wanted to see if you could hit anything,' I replied, 'and now I know you can't.'"

Capture is close

"The Japs tore a hole in the east line and got in behind, but with toe-to-toe fighting they were wiped out. Jape barges with 75-mm artillery guns hit from the rear flank, but Corps II sank many of them. Our anti-aircraft guns were now lowered as field artillery and blasted the enemy point blank.

''New squadrons of Jap dive bombers had been added to the old. They were now dropping a new type bomb that would burst just before hitting the ground, throwing fire and shrapnel at belly height.

''The end was obvious . . . As we departing, No. 4 tunnel exploded. It was the one where all the gasoline was stored. It was the biggie of the explosions. Large rocks, boulders and parts of human bodies flew through the air. The small boats nearby with their occupants were sunk.

''We had been a part of the 'Battling Bastards of Bataan,' Now we would add the next chapter, 'The death of Corregidor.' The little boat headed for Corregidor and I, with a high fever, faded into a coma."

Am I alive or dead?

"A little black short-hair dog crawled onto my lap. Artillery shells were exploding outside. There was also the sound of an incoming flight of heavy bombers approaching.

''I offered up a little prayer and they all bowed their heads offering up their own. My prayer was so simple. I remember it well. Everything seemed so hopeless, all I had to say was, 'Dear Lord, not my will but thine will be done.' That was all. Tokyo Rose was spreading her usual discouraging propaganda over the radio.

''We heard a planeload of bombs starting to explode around us. Someone said, 'This is it.' Psalm 91:11 flashed through my mind. Then it happened. One bomb, with its whizzing sound came down through the roof, dead center. There was a terrific flash! I heard no sound. Then there was no light, just complete darkness.

''I felt so relieved. It seemed as though I was floating up. It was a very nice feeling. I looked down and saw a large hole in the center of the floor.

Around it were parts and pieces of men's bodies. I also saw my body, still sitting there on the bed. The little dog was dead and laying upside down on the radio, which was smoking.

''It was more like a vision than reality. I could wriggle like a spirit, but just couldn't get my lower part free from my body. Everything was so quiet. I saw many others, but at a distance, all were so pleasant and smiling. Strange, but I realized that there is no sex, no men or women. All were just the same.

''Then a dazzling bright ball of light appeared, and a soft voice said. 'No, I have something else for you to do.' With that I started to drift slowly back into that body, I didn't want to go back in, but gradually I did."

Running for dear life

"By now there was enough light that I could see hundreds of dead Japs, in orange-colored life jackets, floating in the water . . . For the first time a strange fear hit me. Now what could I do? Here I was, lying amid dead Americans and living Japs. Then a thought hit me, that this was really in my favor. All I had to do was to run right through the middle of them. They wouldn't fire at each other.

''With that my feet took off and I ran as hard as I could run, right across the backs of the dead and the living. Back in my high school days I had set a school record for the 100-yard dash, but that would not equal the speed of this run. I doubt that I even took a breath until I reached the hog-back ridge.

''I tumbled into a pit with some other Americans. When I caught my reath I gasped, 'Thank God I made it'. One of the guys said, 'No you haven't, we are surrounded by Japs, they are between us and Malinta Tunnel.' 'No problem,' I gasped, 'I just found out that I can out-run every bullet,' and with that I took off again as fast as my legs would carry me. Spotting two Japs just ahead in my path I hit right in between them, knocking them both over, and on I went."

The second part of Graham's amazing story of survival with appear in the Oct. 25 edition of the Herald.

To order a $25 copy of the self-published book, call the Grahams at 503-655-5866, or send email to pasofino@ptld.uswest.net.