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Summary: "Trudging Through the Philippines"
Review: The book starts out with a BANG, and makes you feel that you have a winner. Once past the beginning, the book crawls along until the closing attack. Far too much detail about unimportant things, and too little about the specific prison enviornment. If you, or a loved one were there, the book is a "must read". If you weren't there, don't waste your time visiting. Larry Woodfield
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Summary: Wish I could give it six stars! Best of the summer reads
Review: Every reviewer of this book has been rightly unanimous in its praise. Hampton Sides' WWII summer blockbuster of a book is simply the best history work I have read in at least five years, and I read history for a living. Ghost Soldiers combines so many amazing emotional moments, drama, humor, terror, and sadness that it is unique in its presentation. Those who took part in this story in the darkest days of World War II will no longer face the idea that their story will go untold. Sides' book is a gripping read, hard to put down, and stylistically rare in that it is history, yet seems better written than most novelists could only hope for. If you need one book to teach you about the triumph of the human spirit, this is it. If you read only one book this year, this should be it.
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Summary: A powerful story
Review: The story of the liberation of 500 POW in the Philippines, towards the end of WWII, is one of those which doesn't make it to the history books. Yet it is an incredible adventure, and it is told by the Author with excellent efficacity and suspense. It is terribly sad to read the tortures and the pain endured by the POW during the infamous Bataan march, and in the prison camps. The story is told with details, some of which are chilling but serve to remind of the cruelty of the war against the Japanese forces. The Author depicts with efficacity the differences in behaviour, education and understanding between Japanese and the American forces, and even tries to give an explanation, assuming it is possible, on the atrocities. The reaction of the POW once freed, the behaviour of the soldiers who freed them, the support by the Philipino guerrillas are narrated with touching precision. It is one war book which stands aside from all others.
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Summary: Bad writing mars interesting story
Review: The writer's mother must have been bitten by a rabid adjective while she was carrying him. The resulting affliction also badly skewed his knowledge of the precise meanings of some of the words he used as adverbs. The story of the miserable plight of the prisoners held by the Japanese at the end of WWII deserves better treatment.
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Summary: Absolutely Engrosing
Review: Wow! I had heard tails of the Bataan death march, but I had never encountered a book on the subject. Even from today's perspective, after the kidnappings in the Mid-East, and the massacres in Africa, the cruelty heaped upon the Allied Prisoners by the Japanese captors still is gut wrenching. What horror must those demoralized, abandoned, sick and weak soldiers have experienced at the hands of their arbitrary Japanese guards. The Rangers who freed the prisoners near the end of the war in the Pacific must be lauded as true humanitarians and heroes. This book is a real "page turner". This is a must read for any student of the Pacific campaigns.
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Summary: I am not a war buff, but what a read!
Review: Hampton Sides writes a captivating report on the lives and conditions that all parties endured during the Phillipine occupation during WWII. It would be easy to bash the enemy, but Sides relays how culture and circumstances affect peoples actions. The story is entirely captivating from a humanist point of view: how do people react in utterly inhuman conditions? This tale of epic courage it a must read. I have a newly found respect for the human spirit.
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Summary: Little Known Action During War
Review: I love to read about little-known incidents that happened during wars. The invasion of the Confederacy into New Mexico during the Civil War has always intrigued me. The rescue of 500 or so American and Allied Prisoners of War from Cabanatuan prison camp on Luzon island in the Philippine outlined here by true accounts is another example. There are so many heroics in war that go untold. Beyond bravery it is a story of survival, a clash of cultures and the human determination to survive. What else can one say?
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Summary: Gut-Wrenching Saga of World War II in the Philippines!
Review: Review Summary: Ghost Soldiers once again proves that truth is stranger and more dramatic than fiction. At the beginning of World War II, Filipino, American, and British troops were abandoned at Bataan and Corregidor as decimated American and British fleets could not relieve them. The Bataan Death March was just the beginning of mistreatment, starvation, thirst, torture, disease, death and confinement for the surrendering forces. At each stage of transportation and confinement, casualties were enormous. After the Allies returned to the Philippines, a Japanese general order had gone out to kill all POWs if the military situation became dicey. At Puerto Princessa prison camp, almost all the prisoners had been murdered by Japanese soldiers in an obscene series of attacks. Word of this slaughter reached Army Intelligence, and plans were quickly made to relieve the remaining major POW camp behind enemy lines before the Allies reached that area in five days. Within that camp were the sickest and most disabled of the Bataan and Corregidor survivers. Nearby, almost 8,000 Japanese troops were expected. The Americans dispatched 121 Rangers and two small groups of Filipino guerrillas to undertake a surprise escape. What follows is one of the most dramatic and moving stories of war that you can imagine reading. Mr. Sides does an astonishing job of weaving in story lines from several perspectives, capturing the social, historical, and personal backgrounds of the participants in a way that brings special meaning to the action that he so well describes. You may never find a more meaningful story of what it means to be an American. Filipinos should also take great pride in this story. Review: Although I had heard a lot about the Bataan Death March (called "the Hike" by some of those who survived it), the details of how and why it happened had escaped me. The Japanese mistakenly thought that they had captured 40,000 fairly healthy troops. Instead, they had almost 100,000 who were in bad shape. No one bothered to adjust, and the suffering mostly occurred due to gross negligence compounded by a lack of concern about POWs and random cruelty by undisciplined soldiers. Piled into a camp designed for 9,000 people, the 50,000 who resided there at any time died at the rate of 10 percent within an average of 50 days due to rampant disease and cruelty. The commandant at Camp O'Donnell, Captain Yoshio Tsueneyoshi, told the prisoners, "You are members of an inferior race, and we will treat you as we see fit." Eventually dispersed into small camps, the prisoners were turned into slave labor for the Japanese, doing everything from growing food (which they were not premitted to eat) to building runways. Only their own efforts slowed down the rate of death. Friendly Filipinos, American spies, and sympathizers smuggled food and medicine into the prisoner of war camps and saved many, many lives. Over time, the healthiest were sent off to Japan to continue their role as slave labor in coal mines and on the docks. Due to the gradually shrinking Japanese base, one survivor recounts surviving two sinkings before a third ship got him to Japan. The conditions were horrible on the ships, and many died in transit due to the bad treatment and the attacks by the Allies. Those who remained at Camp Cabanatuan had suffered from more kinds of diseases than you or I have ever heard of. The Japanese only provided medicines when the diseases threatened their own soldiers. The attack occurred with little time to prepare, few resources, and grave challenges. The Rangers and guerrillas had to cross major roads twice, that were clogged with Japanese military traffic. Major roads led into the camp that could have brought reinforcements. They only had surprise going for them. Due to the support of the guerrillas and the communities in the area, the attack went surprisingly well. The operational details are carefully and thoroughly assembled in a way that makes you feel like you are part of the battalion undertaking the assault. After you finish reading this heart-thumping, throat-clogging story, I suggest that you think about the importance of our commitment to save anyone we can without considering the cost. Particularly in the midst of inhumanity, this commitment raises morality and our potential for goodness to a new level. We should all be very proud of and remember those who did what they could to help! The reactions of the POWs as the troops arrived will stay with you for the rest of your life. Extend a helping hand to all those in need, without considering your own comfort or self-interest.
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Summary: AMAZING
Review: he tells it as it was: a story. it's not a history book... he makes history fun again, and the way he tells it is the way it is supposed to be. an accurate book, informative, and engaging. read it. now.
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Summary: Ghost Soldiers
Review: Can't wait for a movie. It was great. couldn't put the book down. It also brought to light how the men felt about Gen. McArther, somthing I did not know, and how the men were on both sides. It kept you with the rangers but yet did not take you away from the POW's.
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