I AM ALIVE‪!‬

The postcard came with the words “Imperial Japanese Army” printed at the top. On it were written three simple words:  “I AM ALIVE!” And with this, Charles R. Jackson’s wife knew that her husband, a US Marine Sergeant Major, had survived the Japanese capture of Corregidor and could only hope he would continue to survive the hell that came with being a Japanese prisoner of war.


Held prisoner for three horrific years, Jackson survived the war and penned his memoir, though it went unpublished and forgotten for decades. That is until Bruce “Doc” Norton, himself a decorated US Marine veteran, and an acclaimed military historian, brought the memoir to light.


In a rare look into the heart of combat, Sergeant Major Jackson describes the fierce and ultimately losing battle for Corregidor, the surrender of thousands of Marines, and the death marches that followed. And all this was simply a prelude to the fight for survival that would take place in the POW camps. Jackson’s memoir gives voice to the thousands of men who fought and died during WWII, in the Pacific. His character and spirit evoke the very definition of the Marine Corps’s motto, Semper Fidelis; Always Faithful.