Jim Hildreth
As a teenager, Hildreth joined the Navy in October of 1939, before the U.S. involvement in World War II. After training, he was assigned to the submarine tender U.S.S. Canopus. Hildreth’s first duties were as ship’s cook, then as a radioman. He was on duty in the Philippines when he and his crewmates were captured by the Japanese in 1942.
Hildreth spent 1220 days as a prisoner of war, forced to live and labor under adverse conditions. “At one point during my 3 ½ years as a POW, I weighed less than 65 lbs., had dysentery, yellow jaundice, pneumonia, pleurisy and malaria contacted from a blood transfusion.” Over the years after the end of World War II, Hildreth was asked many times, “What kept you going?” My answer was, “I didn’t want to hurt my mother and father, and there was always the dream of that girl back home.”
After the war, Hildreth used the GI Bill to enroll in the National Academy for Roller Skating Teachers in Detroit, Michigan. He moved to Northern California where he managed several roller skating rinks.
“After all that I went through, I see life differently than others. Today I see the positive side of life. No negatives, no fear, no hate – just happiness. Thank you America for bringing me home!”
