Little is known of the lived experience of civilians who were Prisoners of War as children. This manuscript describes a review of relevant literature and the hermeneutic phenomenology methods used in a study of World War II Prisoner of War survivors from a civilian prison camp in Manila Philippines. Because of the food, safety and other environmental concerns associated with this group, Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is reviewed to provide a relevant theoretical perspective. Existing research pertaining to resilience, PTSD, and Prisoners of War are discussed. Study methods along with their theoretical underpinnings are described and information is presented as to how the research team sought to avoid bias when conducting the study. Review ArticleOpen Access IntroductionThis manuscript describes a review of relevant literature and the hermeneutic phenomenology methods used in a study of World War II Prisoner of War survivors from a civilian prison camp in Manila Philippines. The participants of this study were all interned in Santo Tomas Internment Camp during World War II. During that war, about 7,300 U.S. civilians along with other allied citizens were held as Prisoners of War in Japanese internment camps located in the Philippines [1]. Most of these internees were located at Santo Tomas University in Manila Philippines (henceforth Santo Tomas Internment Camp). The internment camp was in operation for just over 3 years, from January 4, 1942 to February 3, 1945. The camp population was not static, but quickly exceeded 3,000 prisoners, many of whom were children. In May 1943 the camp population was 3,691 [2]. Internees received inadequate nutrition over a prolonged period resulting in severe malnourishment, especially during the final 8 to 12 months of internment. The mortality rate among U.S. civilian Prisoners of War in the Philippines during World War II was 7.9%. This is twice what would be normally expected within a population of similar age and demographic characteristics; the greatest proportion of these deaths occurred during the final 4 months of internment, primarily due to malnutrition [1].The aim of the study was to examine the lived experience of allied citizen survivors of World War II Internment Camps in the Philippines with a focus on health behaviors, beliefs, and practices including coping mechanisms and the development of resilience. While the intent of hermeneutic phenomenology is to experience a descriptive account of an event before interpreting and assigning meaning to it, it is recognized that in order to be sensitive to the subtleties and nuances in these individuals' reports, researchers should be aware of the theoretical and interpretive viewpoints they may have brought to their effort [3]. Because the participants were children at the time of their internment, information obtained are likely to provide insights about how these internees persevered after having experienced a traumatic event at a formative time in their lives. Therefore, this paper will describe the population and ...