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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 194th Tank Battalion
  • Location of Service: Pacific Theater; Bataan, Philippines; Manchuria; Pacific Theater
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant

View full service history

"Even in our worst moments, some type of humor would usually keep us going." (Memoir)

Stationed in the Philippines in December 1941, Aaron Hopper wouldn't surrender to the Japanese without a fight. After Bataan fell in April 1942, he and a lieutenant fashioned a homemade float and escaped capture by swimming five miles across Manila Bay to Corregidor. Hopper spent 25 days there at Fort Drum until that facility finally fell. Sent to work in factories in Manchuria, he actively sabotaged production. His memoir includes a stirring account, written by Office of Strategic Services historians, of his rescue at war's end, when Hopper's captors refused to believe that Japan had itself surrendered.

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[ Memoirs, "My Most Vivid Experiences as an American Prisoner of War of the Japanese During World War II." ]

About this Item

Title

  • Aaron Clyde Hopper Collection

Names

  • Hopper, Aaron Clyde
  • Nashville Room, Nashville Public Library
  • Barnickel, Linda

State of Birth

  • TN

Home State

  • TN

Headings

  • -  Hopper, Aaron Clyde
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.
  • -  Prisoner of War -- United States

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 194th Tank Battalion
    • Location of Service: Pacific Theater; Bataan, Philippines; Manchuria; Pacific Theater
    • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1941-1946
    • Prisoner of War: Yes
    • Military Status: Veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran sustained combat/service-related injuries as a prisoner of the Japanese. He was held as a Japanese prisoner of war (POW) for three years and four months in Manchuria.

Materials

  • Manuscript: Clippings [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 1999)
  • Manuscript: Memoirs [1 item] -- (collected 1997)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 05/15/1986)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/1648

Cite as

  • Aaron Clyde Hopper Collection (AFC/2001/001/1648), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Hopper, Aaron Clyde, Nashville Public Library Nashville Room, and Linda Barnickel. Aaron Clyde Hopper Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.01648/.

APA citation style:

Hopper, A. C., Nashville Room, N. P. L. & Barnickel, L. (1941) Aaron Clyde Hopper Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.01648/.

MLA citation style:

Hopper, Aaron Clyde, Nashville Public Library Nashville Room, and Linda Barnickel. Aaron Clyde Hopper Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.01648/>.