Oral History Project World War II Years, 1941-1946 - Stan Galbraith

Stan Galbraith was born 30 September 1918 in Virginia, Minnesota, an Iron Range mining town. He grew up there, and graduated from Virginia High School in 1936. Stan was drafted into the US Army in March 1941. After completing Basic Training he was assigned to the 36th Infantry Division, 2nd battalion, 131st Field Artillery, and sent to the Philippines, then to Java. Along with much of the rest of his unit, he was captured by the Japanese on 10 March 1942. From March 1942 to August 1945, Stan was a POW of the Japanese. Early camps included the Bicycle Camp, on Java. But for much of this time, he worked on the infamous Burma-Thailand Railroad. Conditions were terrible, and casualties high. Stan has specific memories of these years, and the people he encountered. VJ Day in August 1945 brought the end of Stan\u27s time as a POW, after forty-two months. After being returned to the United States and discharged in early 1946, Stan returned to the Iron Range and worked at several jobs. In the mid-1960s, he moved to Minneapolis and worked in retail sales until retiring in the mid-1980s. At the time of this interview (April 2004), Stan lived alone in a small apartment in St. Paul