Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews with World War II veterans.The articles will continue in each day's edition until Friday, one day before Saturday's World War II Memorial Dedication and Recognition Day, May 29. The Japanese began to expand their boundaries in Asia beginning in 1931, with the annexation of Manchuria. By the time they bombed Pearl Harbor, Dec.7, 1941, the Japanese had overrun and occupied the Philippines; French Indochina and Thailand; and overwhelmed Singapore, owned by the British, and the oil-rich Dutch West Indies.In 1937, their aggressive policy secured China's major cities - Peking, Tientsin, Shanghai, Nanking and Hankow, effectively isolating the country from the rest of the world. In their colonies of India and Burma, the alarmed British looked to their borders.Early in 1942, the Brits lost the major shipping port of Rangoon, Burma, after a 75-day battle with the Japanese.
TERESA SMITH, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016