Ben Steel

Ben Steele spent the first months of World War II fighting on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines.  When American forces on Bataan were surrendered, Steele was one of tens of thousands of American and Filipino troops forced to go on the Bataan Death March.  Steele spent 41 months as a prisoner of war, enduring horrific treatment including the infamous Bataan Death March.  During his captivity, he suffered from beriberi, dysentery, pneumonia, blood poisoning, and malaria.  He survived the infamous “death ships” and ultimately ended the war working in a Japanese coal mine about 80 miles from Hiroshima. 

During and after his imprisonment, he created visual artworks---first on the dirt floor of his cell and scavenged pieces of paper---documenting prisoner life and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. War Torn: The Art of Ben Steele, a collection of 68 drawings and paintings,  

After the war, Steele became a critically acclaimed artist of the American West, but the Bataan Death March and the labor camps were never far from his mind. As he came to terms with his POW experience, he began to draw from memory.  Many of these sketches are now preserved online, at the MacArthur Memorial, and at the White Sands National Park Museum. A book containing Ben's artwork is available here.

Below are a selection of images of Ben Steel's artwork.