Amazon.com's Best of 2001
The Bataan Death March was just the beginning of the woes American soldiers captured by the Japanese army in the Philippines had to endure. The survivors of the march faced not only their captors' regular brutality (having surrendered, they were considered to be less than honorable foes), but also a host of illnesses such as dysentery and malaria. For three years these "ghost soldiers" lived in misery, suffering terrible losses.
When Army Rangers among Douglas MacArthur's forces arrived in the Philippines, they hatched a daring plan to liberate their captured comrades, a mission that, if successful, would prove to be a tremendous morale booster at the front and at home. Led by a young officer named Henry Mucci (called "Little MacArthur" for his constant pipe as well as his brilliance as a strategist), a combined Ranger and Filipino guerrilla force penetrated far behind enemy lines, attacked Japanese forces guarding Allied prisoners at a jungle outpost called Cabanatuan, and shepherded hundreds of prisoners to safety, with an angry Japanese army in hot pursuit. Amazingly, they suffered only light casualties.
In Ghost Soldiers, journalist Hampton Sides recounts that daring rescue, once known to every American schoolchild but now long forgotten. A gifted storyteller, Sides packs his narrative with detailed descriptions of the principal actors on both sides of the struggle and with moments of danger and exhilaration. Thrilling from start to finish, his book celebrates the heroism of hundreds of warriors and brings renewed attention to one of the Rangers' finest hours. --Gregory McNamee
From Publishers Weekly
Popular writer and Outside columnist Sides (Stomping Grounds) interviewed participants in one of WWII's little-known exploits: the rescue of 500 American and Allied POWs from Cabanatuan prison camp on the Philippine island of Luzon. This gripping account intertwines the tale of these prisoners, who were survivors of the horrible Bataan Death March in 1942, and 121 officers and men of the army's Sixth Ranger Battalion. Led by Colonel Henry Mucci and Captain Robert Prince, these Rangers, who had yet to taste active combat, trekked 30 miles behind Japanese lines to effect the rescue, haunted all the while by the knowledge that if their secret mission was leaked, the POWs would probably be massacred by their captors. Sides includes the heroic efforts of Claire Phillips and other resistance fighters to keep the Americans supplied with accurate intelligence, and the scores of villagers who helped the POWs to safety. Some Alamo Scouts and two Filipino guerrilla groups provided no small assistance to Mucci and his men. The raid itself was almost anticlimactic as the Rangers burst into the POW compound, eliminating the garrison and bringing out the inmates in less than half an hour. It's a tale worthy of a Hollywood movie (and film rights have been optioned by Universal). The author's excellent grasp of human emotions and bravery makes this compelling book hard to put down. (May 15)Forecast: This is for fans of Flags of Our Fathers who have been waiting for another installment. First serial rights have been sold to Esquire, and the author is booked on the Today Show. With more exposure like that, and with blurbs coming from the likes of David Halberstam and Jon Krakauer, this should sell hugely.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Reports by survivors of a massacre of prisoners in the Palawan, Phillipines, prisoner-of-war stockade prompted U.S. Army leaders to send a small mobile force to another prisoner-of-war camp and liberate the inmates before their Japanese Army guards could repeat the action. The Cabantuan prisoners were the remnants of the benighted force left on Bataan three years before and forced to march without provisions and endure atrocities along the way to their encampment a brutal trek later known as the Bataan Death March. Highly motivated, fit, well provisioned, and trained for this kind of action, the 6th Ranger Battalion had orders to bring out the camp inmates, "even if you have to carry them on your backs." Reinforced with local guerillas, the detachment executed a forced march of 30 miles behind enemy lines in just a day, then organized the attack and-.Since this story is written in a voice that makes us continually guess the outcome, it would seem unfair to continue with a story outline. Outside contributor Sides (Stomping Grounds) gives us insight into the hardships of such a venture, and with recollections from the participants and historical background this becomes a richly written document of the last year of World War II.- Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, CA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
The "ghost soldiers" referred to in the title are the skeletonized, starved Allied prisoners in a Japanese WWII POW camp, and the story recounts their rescue by an elite U.S. Army battalion. Although the book is mostly description, Naughton makes good use of the dialogue to bring the characters to life with credibility and without flamboyance. The building excitement before the raid on the camp needs no help from the narrator, whose taciturn restraint allows us to keep our attention on their goal. The abridgment seems seamless, allowing a well-trained voice to flow effortlessly to a climax of killing and victory as emotional as any novelist could create. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
Among the plenitude of wartime horrors, the Japanese treatment of POWs in World War II was among the most horrific, the Bataan Death March being one of the most notorious examples of the victors' brutality. By January 1945 a few hundred survivors were in a squalid work camp on Luzon, and Sides' book recounts a gung-ho military raid to rescue them--and to assuage American humiliation for their surrender in 1942. Sides opens with the proximate motivation for the mission: the Americans' fear that as they closed in on an increasingly beleaguered Japanese military, the Japanese would vengefully massacre their prisoners. Just such an atrocity had been perpetrated in December 1944 upon about 100 American POWs on Palawan. So as the Americans fanned out on Luzon, a unit of army rangers with Filipino support was sent ahead of the front line. Their plan, laid and led by Henry Mucci, worked perfectly, as does Sides' skillfully modulated narrative of the atmosphere, courageousness, and human cost of the operation. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Advance Praise for Ghost Soldiers:
"Told with skill and intelligence, this is the story of a stirring and heroic rescue operation in World War II. Ghost Soldiers belongs on a shelf with General Hal Moore's and Joe Galloway's We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, and Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down."
--David Halberstam, author of Playing for Keeps and The Best and the Brightest
"Ghost Soldiers is an enthralling, deeply disturbing look at the horrors of war. It is impossible to read this book without wondering uneasily how you, the reader, would respond if forced to undergo the monstrous trials described with such immediacy by Hampton Sides. Would you be able to endure? And at what cost to your soul?"
--Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air
"Ghost Soldiers took me on a queasy journey deep into the realm of pure evil--then rescued me in a blaze of heroics and righteous vengeance. There's grief, despair, and terror here, but there's also adventure, courage, and joy. It's a Great Escape for the Pacific Theater, but with a much more satisfying ending."
--Erik Larson, author of Isaac's Storm
"Utterly compelling and impressively detailed, Ghost Soldiers dramatically recounts the story behind the Bataan Death March and the realities of survival in a Japanse prison camp. Hampton Sides has fashioned a true-to-life narrative as intelligently orchestrated and satisfying as the raid that ultimately liberated these men."
--Stewart O'Nan, author of Everyday People and The Circus Fire
"Read the first ten pages of this moving book and you will be hooked by a riveting tale of American courage and heroism. In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides brings to life a forgotten adventure of World War II that you will always remember."
--James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers
From the Hardcover edition.
Review
Advance Praise for Ghost Soldiers:
"Told with skill and intelligence, this is the story of a stirring and heroic rescue operation in World War II. Ghost Soldiers belongs on a shelf with General Hal Moore's and Joe Galloway's We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, and Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down."
--David Halberstam, author of Playing for Keeps and The Best and the Brightest
"Ghost Soldiers is an enthralling, deeply disturbing look at the horrors of war. It is impossible to read this book without wondering uneasily how you, the reader, would respond if forced to undergo the monstrous trials described with such immediacy by Hampton Sides. Would you be able to endure? And at what cost to your soul?"
--Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air
"Ghost Soldiers took me on a queasy journey deep into the realm of pure evil--then rescued me in a blaze of heroics and righteous vengeance. There's grief, despair, and terror here, but there's also adventure, courage, and joy. It's a Great Escape for the Pacific Theater, but with a much more satisfying ending."
--Erik Larson, author of Isaac's Storm
"Utterly compelling and impressively detailed, Ghost Soldiers dramatically recounts the story behind the Bataan Death March and the realities of survival in a Japanse prison camp. Hampton Sides has fashioned a true-to-life narrative as intelligently orchestrated and satisfying as the raid that ultimately liberated these men."
--Stewart O'Nan, author of Everyday People and The Circus Fire
"Read the first ten pages of this moving book and you will be hooked by a riveting tale of American courage and heroism. In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides brings to life a forgotten adventure of World War II that you will always remember."
--James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers
From the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
Five CDs, 6 hrs.
Read by James Naughton
In January 1945, 121 hand-selected troops fom the elite U&.S Army Sixth Ranger Battalion slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: Attempt to rescue 513 American and British POWs who had spent over three years in a surreally hellish camp, near the city of Cabantuan, thirty miles distant. The prisoners were the last survivors of the Baatan Death March left in the camp, and their extraordinary will to survive might soon count for nothing-elsewhere in the Philippines , the Japanease Army had already executed American prisoners as it retreated from the advancing U.S. Army. As the Rangers carefully evaded Japanease troops, they made a disquieting discovery. Cabanatuan had become a major transshipment point for the Japanease retreat, and instead of facing a few dozen prison guards, they would possibly confront as many as 8,000 battle-hardened enemy troops.
Ghost Soldiers is far more than a thrilling battle saga, Hampton Sides explores the mystery of human behavior under extreme duress-the remarkable resilience of the prisoners who defied the Japanease authorities even as they were subjected to starvation, tropical diseases, and unspeakable tortures; the violent cultural clashes with Japanease guards and soldiers, trained in the warrior ethic of Bushido; the complicated heroism of the Rangers and Filipino guerillas; the complex motivations of the U.S. high command, some of ehom could justly be charged with abandoning the men of Bataan in 1942; and the nearly suicidal bravado of several spies, including priests and a cabaret owner, who risked their lives to help the prisoners during their long ordeal.
At once a gripping depiction of men at war and a compelling look of redemption, Ghost Soldiers joins such landmark books as Flags of our Fathers, The Greatest Generation, The Rape of Nanking, and D-Day in preserving the legacy of World War II for future generations.
From the Inside Flap
Five CDs, 6 hrs.
Read by James Naughton
In January 1945, 121 hand-selected troops fom the elite U&.S Army Sixth Ranger Battalion slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: Attempt to rescue 513 American and British POWs who had spent over three years in a surreally hellish camp, near the city of Cabantuan, thirty miles distant. The prisoners were the last survivors of the Baatan Death March left in the camp, and their extraordinary will to survive might soon count for nothing-elsewhere in the Philippines , the Japanease Army had already executed American prisoners as it retreated from the advancing U.S. Army. As the Rangers carefully evaded Japanease troops, they made a disquieting discovery. Cabanatuan had become a major transshipment point for the Japanease retreat, and instead of facing a few dozen prison guards, they would possibly confront as many as 8,000 battle-hardened enemy troops.
Ghost Soldiers is far more than a thrilling battle saga, Hampton Sides explores the mystery of human behavior under extreme duress-the remarkable resilience of the prisoners who defied the Japanease authorities even as they were subjected to starvation, tropical diseases, and unspeakable tortures; the violent cultural clashes with Japanease guards and soldiers, trained in the warrior ethic of Bushido; the complicated heroism of the Rangers and Filipino guerillas; the complex motivations of the U.S. high command, some of ehom could justly be charged with abandoning the men of Bataan in 1942; and the nearly suicidal bravado of several spies, including priests and a cabaret owner, who risked their lives to help the prisoners during their long ordeal.
At once a gripping depiction of men at war and a compelling look of redemption, Ghost Soldiers joins such landmark books as Flags of our Fathers, The Greatest Generation, The Rape of Nanking, and D-Day in preserving the legacy of World War II for future generations.
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