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Summary: "Ghost Soldiers" makes for educational and compelling read !
Review: Sides is a master story-teller. Under his superb penmanship, Ghost Soldiers makes for a compelling read: you can't help but keep turning the pages because you just got to find out what happens next, and history is brought back to life in vivid colour with immediacy and verisimilitude. As with all war stories, Ghost Soldiers serves to remind one and all again the horrors and futilities of war.
With all due respect and from a very personal point of view, I can't help but wonder if the rescue mission could have been better planned: there are suggestions of surviving Japanese soldiers after the siege of Cabanatuan by the Rangers and an English POW is missed by the rescue team (but he's rescued eventually by the Filipino guerillas) , things which shouldn't have happened with a rescue exercise executed by crack elite soldiers. Then again, back then American Spec Ops was still in its infancy and the mission itself took place within a constrained time frame: nothing's perfect.
Ghost Soldiers' a great book!
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Summary: Ghost Soldiers
Review: In January, 1945, a hand picked group of U.S. soldiers arrived in the Philippines to conduct a top secret mission. Their assignment was to slip behind Japanese lines and rescue the 513 American and British POWs who had survived the Bataan Death March from three years earlier. And they must accomplish this heroic feat before the prisoners were systematically massacred by the retreating Japanese.
This book tells the gripping, detailed account of the raid as experienced by the both the members of the elite U.S. Army 6th Ranger Battalion as well as through the eyes of the Bataan prisoners...prisoners who were now just remnants of the proud soldiers they once were. These POWs considered themselves forgotten men, men who had undergone unspeakable horrors at the hands of a vicious enemy. They were men ravaged by starvation, tropical diseases and systematic torture, and they considered themselves shadows of who they once were. They thought of themselves now as ghost soldiers, and it was up to the Rangers to bring them home.
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Summary: Ghost Soldiers
Review: Should be required reading for history classes lest we forget the horrible reality of war and why freedom requires the maintenance of a powerfull military capability. Dependance on the the civility of mankind is the certain road to enslavement
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Summary: Gripping and Horrific
Review: At times it was difficult to keep reading because of the graphic first hand descriptions of the atrocities committed. This is a thoroughly worthwhile book that will give you an appreciation for the life you have. I think everyone knows basically what went on in the German concentration camps, but the Pacific theater isn't often taught in depth. This was a real eye-opener and a great example of true life being more compelling than fiction.
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Summary: Heroism through the hardest of times ....
Review: This book is a gut-wrenching journey that follows the plight of those 'left behind,' and those who commit themselves to their rescue. Hampton Sides does an excellent job of alternating chapters between the prisoners and the rescuers, and pulls it all together in the final confrontation and rescue. As a story, non-fiction or otherwise, this is a tale of heroism that is difficult to put down. More than a story, it is an important event in American history that could easily have been lost. I've read the book and passed it on to my Dad, a WWII vet; it will be a difficult passage for him as he reads of unpleasant events all too close to his heart. In turn, it will be handed down to each of my four children lest they forget the sacrifice their Grandfather and those like him made so that my children can enjoy the life they do. Hampton Sides deserves a sincere thanks for keeping this story alive.
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Summary: Not a WWII buff but this was a great read...
Review: I typically don't read about WWII, as I find the Civil War, French/Indian War and Revolutionary Wars much more to my liking. However, I found this very readable and interesting. I had heard about the Bataan Death March ( I even think I remember hearing that one of my uncle's had lived through it)but never knew what it was all about. And of course, I had never heard of the rescue of the prisoners from Cabanatuan. I can't possibly understand how horrible it must have been, but this certainly sheds some light on the horrific treatment these POW's (and others) suffered from the hands of their captors. I found that I had difficulty putting this book down.
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Summary: Dynamic and Informative
Review: Sides has written a compelling account of a little-known and long-overlooked chapter in military history. His work is fair and honest, making Ghost Soldiers both a page-turner and, ironically, difficult to read. My only problem is the book's lack of an index. On that basis, I'd give it 4-1/2 stars if Amazon would provide that option.
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Summary: The most compelling story I have ever read...
Review: An amazing telling of the hellish nightmare endured by thousands of allied servicemen at the hands of seemingly psychotic Japanese guards. This story is as gripping as it is informative. The author does an excellent job of alternating chapters between the POWs struggle to survive and the Rangers preparing to risk all to get them out. As hard as it is to get through the unbelievable human depravity inflicted on these walking skeletons, the rescue mission kept me from putting this book down. Its hard to describe a book that kicks you in the stomach and lifts your spirits at the same time.
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Summary: Ghost Soldiers
Review: Not for the faint of heart or politically correct. I learned about the death march but never heard of the daring rescue mission, until reading this book. Told my father about it and he stole it so he could enjoy it as well. Men like these are why it is called "Americas Greatest Generation"
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Summary: A History Lesson Worth Learning!
Review: "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." That simple line has been forgotten in todays society, along with the story recounted in this book. Sadly, if you go out and ask 100 people what they know about the Bataan Death March, fully 2/3rds will not really know what you are talking about. At least 25% will not even be able to tell you in what war it took place. The sad price of ignorance, as the opening line of this review states, is repetition. Hampton Sides has taken a part of history and brought it back to the forefront. The story of what these people went through, and the missions undertaken for them, are stories of heroism at its best. Forget the stories of bravery in combat, or the daring air raids. The Ghost Soldiers suffered through agony and torture at the hands of an enemy - agony and torture that were uncalled for and appalling by any standards of humanity. For wht it's worth, I beg everyone to read this book with your children. Pass on the story of what happened to these brave men so that it shall not be forgotten . . . lest it be allowed to happen again.
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