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Summary: Chills on the Back of My Neck!!
Review: I cannot imagine my grandfather going through that, but he was on Guadal Canal, Okinawa, and Guam.Now I know why he never talked about it. Buy this book. It will forver change the way you look at your elders...for the better.
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Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I loved this book. Best (story) I've read in a long time. Even though one knows the ending before beginning to read, the author conveys a sense of suspence, creating a feeling of wanting to know more. Very hard to put down. And I laughed and cried along the whole way. Some absolutely atrocious acts were committed, but through it all, the determination of the men involved was like a beacon of light in the dark. I highly recommend this book to anyone with interest in WWII, whether or not you lived throught the time period. You must read this book.You will not regret or forget it.
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Summary: Forgotten World War 2 heroism
Review: The heroic rescue of approximately 500 American and Allied prisoners from the remote Japanese prison camp in Cabanatuan, Philippines is eloquently portrayed in Hampton Sides' thoroughly researched novel, Ghost Soldiers. The 500 prisoners were the sickest survivors of the Bataan Death march after the surrender of Allied forces in 1942 and the subsequent fall of Corregidor. These survivors were tortuously marched without sustenance through the disease infested jungles of the Philippines. Those that survived to be incarcerated in the camp were subjected to starvation, vitamin deficiency, sadistic cruelty and slave labor by their merciless Japanese captors. It was feared that when MacArthur successfully recaptured the Philippines in 1945, that the prisoners would be slaughtered. It was decided that a clandestine mission lead by Col. Henry Mucci and 121 Army Rangers would march through the jungle to rescue the surviving prisoners. With help from Japanese despising armed Filippino guerillas and civilians the rescue was attempted against huge odds. The planning had to be precise and the coordination of the many facets of the operation needed to go off without a hitch. Sides alternates chapters of the story as seen through the eyes of both the bedraggled prisoners and gung ho Rangers to create a feeling of both pathos and patriotism. He does a masterful job in telling a story of heroism in World War 2 which was soon overshadowed by the subsequent attack of the Japanese mainland and the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Summary: Humbling Experience
Review: This is a book that can stand with We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young, The Things They Carried, and To Bear Any Burden. Hampton Sides has produced a tribute that is engaging, penetrating, and incredibly touching.
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Summary: Unbelievable
Review: This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn more about the Bataan Death March in Philippines during the Second World War. Most people, have focused on Iwo Jima, Peleliu, and Okinawa to learn more about the ordeals of soldiers in World War II and have often "forget" about these brave souls in Philipines. In "Ghost Soldiers", Hampton Sides gives these forgotten soldiers, voices. This book deals with both the successful rescue effort by the 6th Ranger and the ordeal of the prisoners of war. It is extremely exciting when Sides portrays the difficulties and the obstacles that these Rangers encountered in reaching behind the enemy line. The Rangers, well aware of the danger ahead, put their lives at stake to rescue fellow Americans. The rescue would not have been successful without the cooperation of the Philippinos guerillas who were willing to risk their lives to rescue the Americans. The prisoners of war were brutally abused by the Japanese army and they suffered from diseases, malnutrition which caused blindness, and were constantly living in fear. The psychological torture made the men cling on to each other for support and help. The prisoners did not expect to see the rescuers that when the Rangers showed up, some did not want to leave as they believed that it was too good to be true. The last few chapers were very emotional as the prisoners finally got what they have wanted but dare not wish - freedom. One quote in the book said, that the prisoners would definitely go to heaven when they died as they have already lived through hell. This is an extremely powerful book as it shows courage, determination, and most importantly, the will to survive. However, I wish Sides would use footnotes as that would make his book more credible instead of briefly mentioning the sources at the end of the book. That should not prevent readers who are intersted in learning more about the survivors of the Bataan Death March and serves as a reminder of how precious lives are.
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Summary: True Heroes
Review: In Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, the true heroes of America are given a fitting tribute. Ghost Soldiers is an action packed thriller that will leave you clearing your schedule because you do not want to put it down. Personally, I knocked it out in 2 days. Ghost Soldiers is the story of the soldiers who liberated the few survivors of the Bataan Death March in WW2. The book takes you through the formation and planning of this risky operation. In switching back and forth between the happenings at the camp and the planning and execution of the raid, Sides does a great job of giving the reader both sides of the story. The reader is able to grasp the harsh treatment that the POW's received and their plans to escape and the planning and execution of their liberation. All the while, the soldiers had no idea just how bad the camp was, and the POW's had no idea they were ever going to be freed by their countrymen. Both sides of the story come together in the thrilling final pages. This is a great book and an easy read. Sides does not bog us down in minute details like so many historians like to do, but he does create the story well enough to make us feel like we are there. Things happen fast and before you know it, you will be done with one of the best books I have read in a long time.
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Summary: Puts you on the front lines
Review: I have always considered myself a student of WW2. Before I read this book I thought that the action of American troops on the island has stooped in 1944. I was mistaken, this book manages to merge the humorous and the nasty aspects of war into one tapestry. It holds together remarkably well
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Summary: A real page-turner
Review: Ghost Soldiers offers an inspiring tale of the rescue of POW's from a Japanese prisoner camp in the Phillipines of WWII. The book is fast-paced, and Hampton Sides does a wonderful job alternating chapters between the daring rescue effort and the desperate experiences of life at the camp. It will truly keep you turning the pages well into the night. You will be impatiently cheering the rescuers and desperately pleading with the prisoners to hold on. I highly recommend the book for the storyline, suspense and pace. It reads better than most popular fiction.
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Summary: A Staggering History: A Stunning Report
Review: GHOST SOLDIERS is one of the most successful books about war, a scrupulously detailed academic scrutiny delivered in a briliantly captivating novelistic form. Hampton Sides has produced a vivid reconstruction of what must be one of the most painfully forgotten episodes of WW II - the actual fall of the US Armed Forces in the Phillipines at the hands of the Japanese in the bloddiest excerpt of the Pacific Theater of WW II. It is humbling to read this beautifully written volume, knowing that our own soldiers were subjected to such atrocities and yet most lived to overcome three years of Prisoner of War condition to return home, only to be quietly forgotten ("ghosts") once the media took on Iwo Jima, Hiroshima, Okinawa, and Nagasaki. Sides has a gift in working from oral histories, diaries, reports, and documents, turning those into so vivid a presence that he places the reader in the midst of the POWs, fully cognizant of the smells, the tension, the medical dilemmas, the interactions between prisoners and guards. But he does not confine his account to the Cabanatuan prison camp: characters on the periphery are drawn with such clarity ( for example, "High Pockets" AKA Claire Phillips who bravely cajoled the Japanese officers in her dance club to glean information for the Army intelligence) that the world of the Philippines becomes a well-trod stage, heightening the drama of the POW story. And last, but definitely not the least of this fine book's gifts, GHOST SOLDIERS makes no judgments. Sides is able to report in an incredibly engaging manner without all the gratuitous hoopla that often accompanies "war books". This is a stellar achievement and one that would be well served translated into a movie, solely for the enlightment of the world as to an isolated atrocity that stands as a symbol for all that is wrong about War.
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Summary: Daring Rescue
Review: I finished the book in an overnight. Being a military history buff, I guess nothing ever surpasses the storytelling prowess of Hampton Sides. Ghost Soldiers is, by far, one of the best World War 2 book I've ever read. Set in the closing days of the war, in a remote prison camp a few miles outskirts of where I live, the book dramatically recreates the planning stages of the rescue; the events that precipitated the launching of such dangerous and daring mission; and the characters (Mucci and Prince) that proved worthy enough to be put in a pedestal. It's an excellent book, one you should'nt miss reading. Highly recommended!
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