From his own military, investigative, and legal experience, William T. Garner is able to personalize this account of the wartime service of an American soldier who became a prisoner of the Japanese. Garner, a student athlete in high school and college, is the son of a career US Marine and was himself a Marine Corps jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. Upon leaving active duty, he worked as an insurance investigator while completing the schooling he had begun before his military service. His legal career spanned nearly forty-five years, and during that time, he authored many legal decisions and treatises. In 1998, he was named “Judge of the Year” by the Long Beach Bar Association. For more than twenty years, he was also an adjunct professor of law at a local law school. In addition to his law degree, he holds a master’s degree in humanities.

Garner and his wife of more than fifty-eight years, Rochelle, continue to reside in Long Beach and try to visit their six children and their families who live in several states as often as possible. During all of his adult life he has served his profession, commu- nity, and church in various capacities, and since 1991 he has been the stake patriarch in his church. He continues to teach and direct his church choir. He says of this book and of Clarence Bramley, the book’s subject, “It’s difficult to imagine that there is anyone who will not be touched and inspired by reading this factual account of a real American hero.”