The Omnibus

Issue date: 5/6/04 Section: The Gallery

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"Survivor," a book written by Joplin native and long-time Bolivar resident John Playter, has been added to the United States Library of Congress collection, according to Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt.

The Majority Whip and former Southwest Baptist University President sent the book, which he had read, to the Librarian of Congress James Billington. In late April Billington wrote Blunt saying, "We are glad to have this record of [Playter's] creativity which is already shelved in our collections."

Playter's "Survivor" is described by the Library of Congress as a "personal memoir of one soldier's experience in the battle for the Phillippines, the Bataan death march, Japanese slave labor camps [and] escape from the Japanese hell ship, the Shinyo Maru." The 158-page book was published by SBU in 2000. The Library of Congress Control Number is 00711399.

"John Playter's story is extraordinary," Blunt said. "Hollywood could not have written a more compelling story of service, oppression, despair, faith and triumph than John Playter has lived." The book came into Blunt's hands at the request of Playter's niece, Fay Ollis, of Springfield. Ollis asked that it become part of the holdings of the Library of Congress.

Playter, an artillery officer in the Phillippines when World War II started, survived 27 months of Japanese captivity and disease only to regain his freedom when an American submarine torpedoed and sank the Japanese prisoner-of-war ship he was on in September 1944. Playter was among 82 survivors; more than 650 American lives were lost. After returning to Missouri, Playter married Charlene, his wife of 38 years who died in 1983. He met her while stationed at the O'Reilly General Hospital in Springfield. He went on to a career that included 25 years as the city engineer for the City of Bolivar. The 85-year old World War II veteran still resides in Polk County.

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