Jena Delk’s Blog

I had the honor of meeting Glenn Frazier recently.  I am sharing part of his story below.

Glenn Frazier was born December 1, 1923 and grew up in Fort Deposit, Alabama. He ran away to join the Army to avoid facing his parents after a night of heavy drinking and misadventure. Frazier was 16 at the time and had to lie about his age in order to join.

Frazier was assigned to the 75th Ordinance Depot and Supply Company and stationed on the Philippine island of Luzon in September 18, 1941. The Japanese attacked on December 8th and Frazier, along with thousands of troops, retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, per order of General MacArthur. Most of the troop’s supplies had to be left behind and rations were very limited. And After three months of harsh fighting conditions, men were dying of starvation in addition to the onslaught of the Japanese. In April, Frazier, along with 78,000 other troops surrendered.

He was just 17 years old when he was captured and forced to march in the infamous Bataan Death march. This march lasted six days involving torture, murder, and physical abuse. Over 20,000 of the troops died during this forced march.

Frazier spent the next three years struggling for life in a series of Japanese POW camps. Finally when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, the guards responsible for the POW are just walked away from their post. This allowed Frazier and others to simply leave the POW camp. Frazier boarded a train and eventually made it to safety in Tokyo,

After the war, Frazier married and later had two children. He published an autobiography, published in 2007. This book called Hell’s Guest and can be ordered from Frazier’s website at http://hellsguest.com/index.asp. Frazier dedicated the book, “To the men and women who have worn the uniform to serve their country since the formation of the republic…. and never let us forget the cost of freedom paid for with our men and women’s blood that was not shed in vain. Let their sacrifice be a shining light for future generations, and teach them that freedom must be preserved at all costs. No one knows what slavery is all about until he has walked in the shoes of those who have been slaves.”

Jena Delk took a day off from playing the WSOP Circuit Events in New Orleans poker to give back to the military troops stationed at Camp Shelby, MS. Delk toured the USS Alabama with the master trainers of the 3-347th Regiment in honor of Armed Forces Day,

This unit, normally stationed in Orlando, has been called to active duty to ready Guardsmen and Reservist post-mobilization training in support of GWOT (Global War on Terror). The troops called to active duty spend two month of intense 7-day a week combat training prior to their final deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq.

Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday of May. In 1949, when this holiday was created to honor those serving in the five U.S. military branches, this day was meant to replace the separate Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard days of observances. However, those branches still observe their own days in addition to Armed Forces Day.

On behalf of the poker community, we salute our Servicemen.