Tom Crosby

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Thomas “Tom” Crosby was born in September 1933 in Cagayan de Misamis, Mindanao, the Philippines. He spent his early childhood in Manila, attending an American school and enjoying swimming and sports. Following Japan’s invasion, his childhood changed abruptly: on 7 January 1942, eight-year-old Tom and his family were confined in Santo Tomas Internment Camp, established within Manila’s university grounds for Allied civilians.

Tom endured 37 months of captivity. As food supplies dwindled, hunger dominated daily life. He recalled searching the Japanese guards’ rubbish for scraps, while his grandmother boiled leather shoes and belts to supplement the family’s diet. By liberation, he weighed only 48 pounds—approximately 22 kilograms—and had become too weak to carry water upstairs for fellow internees.

American troops reached Santo Tomas on 3 February 1945, but Tom’s ordeal continued. Japanese guards held him and more than two hundred other internees hostage inside a camp building. Negotiations secured their release, although subsequent Japanese shelling killed and wounded prisoners within the compound. Tom was eleven when his captivity finally ended.

In 1953, he enlisted in the US Navy, motivated by gratitude towards the Americans who had rescued his family. During his Korean War-era service, he worked aboard a submarine tender, handling sailors’ pay. He attained the rank of Petty Officer Second Class.

Tom later worked as a purchasing agent and risk manager for the City of Coronado and became a springboard-diving coach.