Diocesan Archivist Gary Topping delves into the war-time diaries of Utah-born priest, journalist

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

?If I Get Out Alive: The World War II Letters and Diaries of William H. McDougall Jr.? edited by Gary Topping, The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 320 pages, w/photographs, cloth, $24.95

SALT LAKE CITY — If somewhere in your bookshelves you have a copy of "Six Bells Off Java" or "By Eastern Windows," or if you are blessed, as I have been, with a 1983 edition that combines both books in one volume, or if you have fond memories of the books’ author, the late Msgr. William H. McDougall (1909-1988), Diocese of Salt Lake City Archivist Gary Topping has released a new book you must read.

"If I Get Out Alive" is a painstakingly researched collection of the World War II letters and diaries of Msgr. McDougall, whose war-time experiences as a United Press International correspondent led to his near death in the Pacific Ocean, the promise he made to God "if I get out alive," and three years imprisonment (1942-1945) in camps in the Philippines.

I imagine a lot of people make that promise to God in all kinds of tight situations. What made Msgr. McDougall different was that he kept that promise. He became a priest for the Diocese of Salt Lake City, his home diocese, May 11 1952, was named rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in 1960, a position he retained until his retirement in 1981. He was named a Monsignor in 1963. He put his love of journalism back to work when he was named editor of the Intermountain Catholic.

I say Topping’s research on Msgr. McDougall’s letters and diaries is painstaking because not only is it rich in detail, I know how difficult it is to read Msgr. McDougall’s writing. Add to that, many of the diaries he kept during the war he buried in each of the four POW camps in which he was imprisoned, to keep them from being confiscated.

What Topping’s work has uncovered is an intimate look at how the young reporter survived those years as a POW. "If I Get Out Alive" reveals Bill McDougall’s dedication to prayer and reading to keep his mind off life and death in the camps. It also brings to light his dedication to his fellow camp-mates, his willingness to risk his life to steal food and to share it, and his undying love for his family; his parents and his sisters, Jean and Gertrude.

Oddly enough, it was in the POW camps that Msgr. McDougall became a daily Mass attendee. And true to his need to write, he composed the clandestine camp newspapers that had to be secretly printed, counted, recovered, and destroyed, except for the few mimeographed copies Msgr. McDougall managed to bury along with his diaries and recover after the war’s end in 1945.

Topping has included valuable photographs of Msgr. McDougall before, during, and after the war that prove that, as he often said of himself, "My chest has never been thicker than a reporter’s wallet."

Included, too, are drawings by campmates that reveal the austerity of life in the camps. But even more moving are selections from the diaries that tell the stories of men and women who did not survive the camps. They died of malaria, beri-beri, starvation, and hopelessness. Often the only person attending them was Bill McDougall. The few escapes resulted in the unrelenting torture of those left behind.

Msgr. McDougall, a man devoted to detail, kept heart-breaking records of the camp deaths, both for his captors and for himself. So this book also offers a remarkable bit of as yet unrevealed information about the people who shared the hell through which Msgr. McDougall lived.

Published by the University of Utah Press, "If I Get Out Alive" is a moving testimony to the courage of Msgr. McDougall and those with whom he served. It’s a must read for Utahns, for those interested in the history of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, for World War II historians, and for those who are interested in studying how God works in the hearts of men and women under the worst of circumstances.