Through My Mother's Eyes: The Story of a Young Girl's Life As a Prisoner of War in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp

Jean-Marie Faggiano and her family were living in the Philippines when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. The following month, she and her family, along with over 3,600 other civilians, were forced to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army and live as civilian prisoners of war at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila for the next thirty-seven months. Through My Mother's Eyes begins with Jean-Marie relating the story of her family's internment to her two eldest sons for the first time, almost twenty years after the liberation of the camp. Michael, her eldest son, now tells that story to you. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Army began their occupation of the Philippines, and non-national civilians -- mostly American and British businessmen and their families - were forced into internment camps. For the next three years, Jean-Marie and her family struggled to survive in a world rampant with sickness, starvation, and brutality. In Through My Mother's Eyes, you'll experience what life was like in the Santo Tomas prison camp, through the eyes of a young girl who strived to make sense of it all. The story is shocking and horrific at times, yet it is also a story of tremendous love, courage, and hope.