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By ED KOCH, Knoxville News Sentinel, May 1, 2007 Eighty-nine-year-old Bill Taylor waited a long time to tell his World War II story - and a remarkable one it is. Taylor, who was mayor of North Las Vegas from 1961 to 1968, says in a book that he made a daring escape from the Japanese, traveled with the Red Chinese army and even met and chatted with Mao Tse-tung. Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and other Boneheaded Bureaucrats are Turning America into a Nation of Children The book, "Rescued by Mao" (Silverleaf Press, $23.95, and scheduled for release late this month), is based on Taylor's journals during his perilous journey to freedom. The book's cover photo shows Taylor beside a young Mao, who would become leader of Communist China from 1949 until his death in 1976 at age 82. Taylor, who escaped from the Japanese by jumping off a moving train near Shanghai on China's east coast, said he would not be alive today if it were not for the future Chairman Mao ordering his troops to provide Taylor safe passage to his repatriation at Yenan in north central China. Taylor was a civilian construction contractor on Wake Island when it fell to the Japanese on Dec. 23, 1941, resulting in his capture. Today he shrugs off those who suggest his story sounds too amazing to be true. "I don't give a damn about the doubters," Taylor said by phone from his home in Provo, Utah. "I just tell the truth. I decided to write this book to leave a record for my children and future generations of my family." Taylor is a father of five, grandfather of 30 and great-grandfather of 40. Newspaper clippings dating from the 1960s make reference to his capture by the Japanese during World War II and recapture by the Red Chinese. Some of those accounts mention that Taylor met Mao, but offer no details. Garry Mitchell, owner of Silverleaf and its parent company, Leatherwood Press of Sandy, Utah, said Taylor's story has been researched by experts. "I'm absolutely sure it is accurate," he said. Mitchell said experts who reviewed Taylor's manuscript for accuracy include Temple University history professor and author Gregory Urwin, military historian and author Alex Kershaw and the late Marine Brig. Gen. John Kinney. "After 3-1/2 years as a POW ... (Taylor) escaped from the Japanese and was the only escapee to contact" Mao, Kinney said in a quote obtained by the publisher before Kinney died in October at age 91. And then there is that black-and-white photo taken by a Mao aide. "It is authentic and, actually, there is more to it than the reader sees," Mitchell said. "The full photo shows Red Army soldiers around Bill and Mao, with guns drawn on Bill." Taylor said his meeting with Mao occurred July 5, 1945. "He congratulated me on surviving and making it through China, and gave me two woven carpets that I took home," Taylor recalled. "The main part of my side of the conversation was thanking him and his troops for saving my life," Taylor said of Mao. Taylor said he trekked about 1,000 miles to freedom - 100 miles on his own after escaping near Shanghai and 900 miles on the 2-1/2-month journey to Yenan. "To me, Mao was a great man because he was able to bring his people together. He was the George Washington of his country," Taylor said. "Of course, I never agreed with his politics."