Milo ROBISON was born in Decatur County, Iowa, on October 19, 1915. When he was two-years-old, he and his parents moved to the Ellston vicinity.

President Franklin D. ROOSEVELT started the 4C Camps for unemployed boys and young women during the Great Depression. Milo joined the camp around the year 1935. He went to California in 1936 where he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Milo was in the Phillipines when World War II broke out. He was captured by the Japanese at Corrigidor. Milo survived the death march and was a prisoner of war at a camp in Manchuria.

Milo never talked much of his days as a P.O.W., but the men were placed on a starvation diet throughout their captivity. He did, however, say that the guards didn't treat them too badly. They would leave rope laying around and the prisoners would steal it to fashion snares to catch dogs or whatever they could for food. A lot of the time the guards played either the radio or records with Tokyo Rose singing "waiting for the ship that will never return."

When the prisoners were released, they were all in poor health. Milo weighed 85 pounds and suffered from Beri-Beri. He was hospitalized for a period of time and was furloughed to visit relatives and friends in Iowa. Milo was honorably discharged upon his return to California. He remained in California and was an upholsterer.

SOURCE: A Century of Memories: Ellston, Iowa 1881 - 1981 p. 154. 1981.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2010