Rating: 
Summary: Affirmation and
Review: I am very grateful for Mr. Sides story. My father, Robert Kirkwood Whiteley, was one of the Ghost Soldiers. He was, understandably, emotionally reluctant to tell his family, or anyone else, of his experiences in the Philippines so we heard fragments every now and then and only in a disjointed and emotionally charged fashion. Mr. Sides accurately recounts the military, political and cultural imperatives of the US Army and Imperial Japanese forces and has affirmed for me and made sense of many of the extraordinary incidents, individual actions and psychology of my father's experience. There is a kind of restraint in the author's telling - it is almost beyond belief what these people endured. Mr. Sides' literary style is eminently readable, his research is excellent, and the survivors he interviewed are to be commended for unburdening themselves so straightforwardly of such a horrendous and defining experience. What I remember most of my father's stories is his flat, unemotional description of horror and his unabashed tearful joy as he sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge upon his return. This is not so much a story of World War II as it is an affirmation of man's endurance and dignity in the face of unspeakable deprivation and hopelessness. I'm proud of my father and this story helps explain why.
Rating:
Summary: I was worried
Review: at first that there was a "Monday-morning-quarterbacking" aspect to this book, diminishing the focus on the fabulous heroes...I was very mistaken and I apologize for my initial defensiveness about the American Army! Mr. Sides not only keeps the focus and the drama where it belongs -- on those fabulous heroes-- his writing keeps one breathless and almost turning the pages too quickly because of the tension! What an extraordinary, beautiful tribute -- all told in a way that is definitely the kind of book one mustn't read before bedtime...you'll never get to sleep! Thank you, thank you, for introducing us to these true heroes, these courageous men, who really did know about duty, honor, country - without the histrionics. DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Johnny "Booch" - This is a must read
Review: This author brings you into the story in the first couple of pages. You feel the "true to life" sense of the terrible environment that these men were faced with. It is hard to imagine such things happening and the sacrifices fellow soldiers made for one and another. In a world of "givers and takers" the Ghost Soldiers were "true givers".If you do not shed tears when reading this book, you have missed it. What is most sad is that in Japan these stories are not told. Maybe the internet will bring this shame home to them. It should be mandatory required reading for every high school student. What is learned in this book will never [and should never] be forgotten. Every parent should stimulate their children to learn more about the young and innocent men and women who gave so much for their country at a time when duty was self-evident. Our country would be a better place if those "heros" were around today.
Rating: 
Summary: A DRAMATIC STORY POORLY TOLD
Review: I anticipated a real page turner based on the subject of this book, in which I had great interest. However, in telling the story Hampton Sides unfortunately made it a BORING one. It seems that he just chose to time-sequence his interview notes into a book. Some of the participants (Mucci and Prince, who led the rescue efforts) were compelling, but more was certainly needed in telling this courageous episode. Its a great story that still remains to be told by a more competent writer.
Rating: 
Summary: An informative book with a few flaws
Review: Hampton Sides' "Ghost Soldiers" is a book riding the wave of World War II nostalgia that is hot right now in the wake of "Pearl Harbor." Perhaps that is why it seems like a book that was rushed out before it was ready. Author Sides tells the main story well. In January 1945, a group of Rangers lauched a Top Secret mission through 30 miles of enemy held territory in the Phillippines to rescue just over 500 allied prisoners that were expected to be massacred as the Japanese withdrew. The mission, though of no strategic value, was a spectactular success. The story includes a cornucopia of colorful figures, from the gritty Colonel who organized the ranger unit to two Pillippino guerrilla leaders, to an American woman who posed as a Phillipna to spy on the Japanese to an American Chaplin in the prison camp and many more. Sides brings them all to life expertly. My quibble with the book is that Sides' prose occasionally veers in to the overly-dramamtic. For example, the subtitle of the book refers to the mission as "forgotten" even though those who participated were well decorated and that there have been several other books written about the mission. Even the use of the description "Most Dramatic" in the subtitle describing the mission is subject to debate. These types of overstatements appear frequently in the narrative and are distracting. Additionally, the book has no index or endnotes, which seems to indicated that it was a rush project. Nevertheless, it is an entertaining read and is a fitting tribute to the brave souls who live and die on its pages.
Rating:
Summary: Moving and vivid!
Review: As a Marine Corps veteran I was deeply moved by the accounts of this book. The story of the Death March and those who lived and survived Camp Cabanatuan is both incredible and disturbing. The story is retold in dramatic fashion by Hampton Sides. The book marches forward to a compelling crescendo of emotion and triumph. This should be required reading for those who serve in the Armed Forces. I left this book feeling thankful for my freedom and more appreciative for those who made the sacrifices for it. A tremendous read!
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Account of Real Wartime Event
Review: This was a shocker! I was riveted from the very first page. Being a Baby Boomer, I was not even born when this event occurred. My Dad served in World War II in the Coast Guard, so he only knew about this and didn't go through that experience. I was telling someone about the book today, and he didn't even know there was any rescue attempt (successful or not) for our prisoners. He wanted to know if this book was fiction and I said, "No!" One other thing, the writer does an excellent job of putting you right in the midst of the action. It seemed as if I was right there and that it was happening right now. If you have questions about whether or not it was appropriate for the U.S. to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, or whether we should have had Japanese internment camps for those of Japanese descent in the U.S. (whether citizens or not), READ THIS BOOK. I have changed my mind about a lot of things because of the incidents depicted in "Ghost Soldiers."
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Summary: If only Hampton was old enough to have been there..
Review: I'm glad this story is being told - on behalf of the utterly selfless and courageous men who put themselves on the line...and the story is a good one. However, I suddenly noticed on page 76 the old familiar (by "journalists") anti-American digs... Despite today's war-free Politically Correct speech and easy hindsight, (quoting Sides: "the Americans had proven to be decent landlords...they built schools, bridges roads, they introduced the rudiments of free enterprise and democracy, they sent over teachers by the BOATLOAD..." yet, author Sides is puzzled that "for whatever reason {how about the best anyone had ever treated them} they still regarded the Yanks with a curious almost brotherly affection." This surely seems to bother Sides. I flipped back to the author's bio and, sure enough, found that he is a contributor to such left-leaning media as "The New Republic," "The New York Times Magazine," "The Washington Post," etc., all of whom love to hate America. Mistakes and old-fashioned tactics, etc., yes...but it's funny how this "bad" country liberated and PAID FOR the liberation and rebuilding (and have never been paid back the "loans") of so many countries after the war. Yet, always, there will be those who distinctly love to "blame America first." Sides may tell the story of an outstandingly brave unit, but one understands that given the same choices, he would never have been one to make the same sacrifice on behalf of an imperfect country with imperfect but decent motives on behalf of an....as always, imperfect war. How wonderful it must be to be of a generation who never had to truly step forward and sacrifice one's life, one's honor, one's future. So much easier to be a Monday morning quarterback criticizing and second-guessing. May your life always be so simple and peaceful and without the call of duty, Mr. Sides. For the torment of believing and dying for an essentially righteous cause is meant for a type such as you will never know; the type even Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation" - not the "me" generation. Would that you could have kept the story purely about the heroes; without the silly pretentiousness of comment about an era of which you would have no real sense of experience or understanding.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ BOOK!!
Review: Although I do not normally read non-fiction books, something about the description of the book made me give it a try. I am so glad I did. I never really learned much about the war with Japan in school, I remember mostly learning about our campaigns in Europe. So now, I feel like I should forgo some more of my fiction books and try to learn more about the many, many, sacrifices our men and women made in the Phillipines. But...anyway, this book is so interesting, I cried and cringed and cheered. For you other "mostly fiction book readers" out there, give this book a try, it reads very fast, and it keeps you wanting to read. Congratulations to the author for a wonderful book and for bringing this story to life for the reading audience. It's a story that everyone should read.
Rating:
Summary: ghost soldiers
Review: Outstanding. Impossible to put down.
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