Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm98084338
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Donald T. Giles, rear admiral and prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, were given to the Library of Congress by the Naval Historical Foundation in 1998.
The papers of Donald T. Giles were arranged and described in 1999. The register was revised in 2007.
Some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of the papers of Donald T. Giles.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Donald T. Giles is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Donald T. Giles are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Papers of Donald T. Giles, Naval Historical Foundation Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Donald Theodore Giles (1898-1983) span the years 1926-1982, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the years 1941-1945. Correspondence, notebooks, photographs, and printed matter chiefly reflect the years Giles spent as a prisoner of war during World War II. Giles, then a commander in the United States Navy, arrived on Guam on 7 May 1941 to become the vice governor of the island and the executive officer of the naval station. When Guam fell to the Japanese on 10 December 1941, Giles, along with other military personnel and some civilians, was taken prisoner. In January 1942, the Japanese transported Giles and the others to the prisoner-of-war camp at Zentsuji on the island of Shikoku and incarcerated them along with British, Australian, and Dutch military personnel. The Americans were moved in 1945 to a prison camp at Roku Roshi on the island of Honshu, where Giles was liberated in September.
The notebooks contain the names, addresses, and autobiographies of United States and Allied military personnel and civilians who were imprisoned at the camp at Zentsuji, as well as a roster of personnel on Guam. Giles used one of the notebooks to record the letters he received from his mother, and his wife Virginia Basil Giles. Other correspondence from his wife and son, Donald T. Giles, Jr., during this period appears in the correspondence file as well. Photographs show the prisoners at the Zentsuji camp, United States Marine Corps troops in combat on Guam, and Guam after World War II. Other items of note are the magazines bound by Giles while in the camp, photocopies made of sketches depicting life in Japanese prison camps, and a letter in the general correspondence dated 18 September 1945 concerning George Scharff, a German national who reportedly raised a swastika over his house on Guam when the Japanese invaded the island.
After returning to the United States, Giles resumed his military career and became concerned with legislation dealing with prisoners of war. The legislation file includes excerpts from the testimonies of prisoners of war about their mental and physical health two years after their release from Japanese prison camps and Giles's testimony for the War Crimes Office in 1946. He retired from the military in 1953. Sometime later Giles produced a manuscript about his experiences at the camp at Zentsuji entitled "The Reluctant Guest." In 1994, Donald T. Giles, Jr., edited his father's manuscript and published it under the title
This collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material.