There is no average day for a veteran. Their memories are sometimes so painful that they can't help but block out the apathy of the average day and replace it with the acknowledgment that they are still alive. Though many may fear to ask, less experience the horrors of those who've gone before us in the fight for freedom. It is these stories we must never forget.

Ben Hagans' office at Monarch Ford is small and plain, but the man who occupies it is not. A few objects give visitors a clue that Hagans was a military man. Behind aged eyes and a firm yet soft-spoken voice is a former prisoner of war who calls each day “a gift” and has an acute knowledge of what it means to truly be free.

Hagans enlisted in the Army Dec. 8, 1941. His first campaign brought him to Mindanao, one of the Philippine islands. He and the rest of his 104th Regiment were captured by the Japanese at Dimayon and promptly sent to a prison camp in Dansalan. Weary of guerilla forces, as well as McArthur's troops who had already taken Mortai Island, the Japanese felt it was prudent to keep prisoners on the move.

Hagans was transferred to Iligan, and then marched through the hot and humid landscape to Cagayan De Oro, a distance of about 85 miles. He and his fellow soldiers were given no food and barely any water for a week. Those who asked for any would lose their lives.

Hagans said he remembers they took everyone's belt leaving soldiers to believe that the Japanese were planning to hang the soldiers with them. But instead, the weary soldiers were forced to hold up their pants while marching through the rugged terrain.

“It was not a comfortable time,” Hagans said. “We learned quite quickly that the Japanese were not kind to prisoners.”

The prisoners were soon transferred again, traveling to Malaybalay one of two future World War II surrender sites. Malaybalay was home to the Prisoner of War Camp at Casisang. But Japanese forces would move the prisoners soon to Davao Penal Colony, trading prisons with civilian prisoners there. The scenes at the prison camps mirror those of the concentration camps throughout Europe; the skeletal figures, barely surviving, hoping to make it to the next day while being stripped of their humanity.

At 5 p.m. Dec. 24 Hagans remembers being placed on one of many “hell ships” to Manila. The soldiers spent 15 days to travel 600 miles to Manila. The ship ahead of his sunk. He ironically described it as being lit up like a Christmas tree.

Those who survived the “hell ships” were put on a train to Cabanatuan, some 60 miles away. Hagans stayed at the camp there until October 1944, when he was transferred to Bilibid prison.

“That was the attitude adjustment prison,” said Hagans. “And they said I had a lousy attitude.”

The large prison was one of the main ones in the Philippines. Prisoners slept on concrete floors and during the day were corralled like cattle outside with nothing to do, but try to keep it together.

In April of 1945 Hagans was sent to another camp called Santo Tomas, where he would be liberated. While attempting to sneak some horse food to eat, Hagans remembers hearing the large prison gate opening and a tank too large to be the Japanese storming in. It fired at Japanese forces and Hagans then managed to escape. He was the only one of his detachment to survive. Hagans spent a total of three years and 18 days in the Japanese prison camps.

Coming home was like nothing else for Hagans and his fellow soldiers. He was loaded onto a troop ship to San Francisco and traveled 37 days to American soil. Pulling into the harbor Hagans said, “I don't think there was a dry eye on that ship.”

Weighing only 56 pounds Hagans was transferred to a military hospital in Ohio where he recuperated until November 1946.

Despite his horrific first tour of duty Hagans stayed in the Army Reserves through college until being recalled into battle in 1950. Hagans served as a paratrooper during the Korean War. His second tour of duty lasted five years.

Hagans has spent most of his post-military career caring for those like himself, POWs whose memories have yet to make sense. He has been involved with the POW chapter in Fresno for 30 years.

“We help those who can't help themselves,” said Hagans. “We don't relieve memories, but it's a way to gather. Only those who've been through it will understand. The general public does not understand man's inhumanity to man,” Hagans continued.

Hagans said he was very hateful for some time after his experience in the military. But now he has exchanged his hatred for thankfulness and an immense appreciation of common place things.

“Hate will eat you up, so I got rid of my hate,” said Hagans. “Every morning is great. I look forward to seeing my wife and I look forward to going to work.”

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