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4.5
Hampton Sides has wrote a great historical true story of the US Army Rangers, scouts and Filipino resistance fighters rescuing POWs captured at Bataan and others from the monstrous horrible Japanese prison/death camp Cabanaantuan in WW2 Philippines.The 342 page book was a page burner, exciting and extremely informative. The reader has an enjoyable learning experience that is exciting and fast paced. No boring parts. I read it in 2 days. Could not put it down.The reader learns about the Bataan death march and how the US prisoners and a few foreigners were tortured, used as slave labor, given almost no food ( a little rice now and then. They killed and ate what small animals they could ( rats, snakes etc...later they were able to grow vegetables in a garden)and allowed to get all kinds of diseases and vitamin deficiencies. Their bodies are recked with diseases from many parasites and dysentery from human and animal feces and urine contact. Almost no sanitation facilities. We see the Japanese as cruel monsters that killed some of the prisoners for pleasure and thought of them as non humans. Killing and torture are the norm.Hampton does show a very few Japanese that treated the prisoners with a slight degree of compassion.The US Army is in full swing with MacArthur and soldiers returning and taking back the Philippines with Filipino resistance fighter help. Because of this we see the Japanese taking over a thousand of the prisoners out of the prison camp to be shipped to Japan as slaves. The rest of the prisoners are non productive with many diseases and unable to work. US intelligence believes the remainder of the prisoners will be executed. We see a spy "High Pockets" an American women working at her bar/dance establishment giving US intelligence information about Japanese ship movements and troop placements.The prisoners had been in prison three years and they believed America had forgotten them, until the Rangers break into the camp to save them. A group of US Army rangers led by Lt. Colonial Mucci and Captain Prince with the help from scouts and Filipino resistance fighters storm the camp, kill the remaining Japanese there and free the prisoners. We see the firefight and the over 15 mile trip toward US lines using Philippine cattle and carts to carry the men that can not walk. Many of the saved POW weigh only 100 lbs and have lost their teeth, hair,eye sight, and have sores all over their bodies with different disabilities due to disease, parasites and vitamin deficiency. They are walking and non walking skeletons.I won't ruin the ending. Just say that the reader will get a deep empathy with the tortured prisoners and really praise the Rangers, scouts and Filipino resistance fighters for saving them. This is a true WW2 story and a history that should be shown so all will remember the atrocities committed on POWs. This has happened before and after. Will humankind ever stop the inhuman treatment of POWs, end wars forever or is it in the inner nature of humankind to kill each other? A very enlightening book. 5 stars
