An Emotional Read

 

On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation.

In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides vividly re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture. Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring, Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.

My thoughts:
5 stars
Hampton Sides has a way in this book of bringing to life the POWs and the rangers who went in and rescued them, he gives details of how our POWs was treated, as well as how the Japanese treated the Philippines people who tried to help our soldiers in any small way, where it was just food or water or both. It brings to life a part of history that is never talked about in history books or class . It's an emotional type of reading that brings home what our soldiers went through,the ones that came home and the ones that didn't. I can't put into words how emotional this book made me feel as I was reading it because there was times I wanted to cry. It's a must read and a must have in any body's library that love to read and study about WW2.