Through My Mother's Eyes

Through My Mother's Eyes: The Story of a Young Girl's Life as a Prisoner of War in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp is a biography by author Michael McCoy, based on the true story of his mother, Jean-Marie Faggiano (Heskett), and her family, who lived as civilian prisoners of war in Manila, Philippines, during World War II. The book is published by Strategic Book Publishing, New York, New York, and was released in October 2008.

Jean-Marie Faggiano was only six years old and living with her family in the Philippines when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the beginning of WWII, the Imperial Japanese Army began their occupation of the Philippines, and non-national civilians — mostly American and British businessmen and their families — were forced into internment camps. Jean-Marie and her family, along with over 3,600 other civilians, were forced to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army and live as civilian prisoners of war at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila from January of 1942 until February of 1945.

Through My Mother’s Eyes is the true story of a young girl and her family, held captive against their wishes and thrown into a world where starvation, sickness, torture, and death were a commonplace occurrence. The story gives a shocking and compelling view into the life of a family faced with tremendous crisis, counteracted by heroism, courage, love, and resilience.

Michael McCoy and Jean-Marie Faggiano (Heskett) both live in Santa Rosa, California. Besides being an author, Michael is also a radio personality in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jean-Marie lives in retirement today in Santa Rosa, after working over thirty years as a quality inspector at Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies in Sonoma County. Jean-Marie loves to travel and speak to groups about her experiences as a POW during World War II.

External links

* [http://www.throughmymotherseyes.com Offical website of Through My Mother's Eyes]