Download or read book Captured on Corregidor written by John M. Wright, Jr. and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-01-19 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On graduating from West Point in 1940, Lieutenant John Wright was assigned to Corregidor, Philippine Islands. Captured there by the Japanese, he endured three and a half years of POW conditions described in subsequent war crimes trials as the worst of World War II. This book is built around a diary he smuggled through countless inspections during his imprisonment. A detailed account of the voyage of the “hellships” carrying prisoners from Manila to Japan; the disease, the hunger, and the different ways prisoners coped—or failed to cope—with their ordeal.
Download or read book Escape from Corregidor written by Edgar D. Whitcomb and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-12-03 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Escape from Corregidor is the harrowing account of Edgar Whitcomb, a B-17 navigator who arrives in World War II Philippines just before its invasion by the Japanese. Whitcomb evades the enemy on Bataan by fleeing to Corregidor Island in a small boat. He is captured but later manages to escape at night in an hours-long swim to safety. Captured once again weeks later, Whitcomb is imprisoned, tortured and starved, before being transferred to China and eventual freedom.
Download or read book Undefeated written by Bill Sloan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-06-18 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This epic story recounts the exceptional valor and endurance of American troops that battled Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II. Bill Sloan, “a master of the combat narrative” (Dallas Morning News), tells the story of the outnumbered American soldiers and airmen who stood against invading Japanese forces in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II, and continued to resist through three harrowing years as POWs. For four months they fought toe to toe against overwhelming enemy numbers—and forced the Japanese to pay a heavy cost in blood. After the surrender came the infamous Bataan Death March, where up to eighteen thousand American and Filipino prisoners died as they marched sixty-five miles under the most hellish conditions imaginable. Interwoven throughout this gripping narrative are the harrowing personal experiences of dozens of American soldiers, airmen, and Marines, based on exclusive interviews with more than thirty survivors. Undefeated chronicles one of the great sagas of World War II—and celebrates a resounding triumph of the human spirit.
Download or read book American Defenses of Corregidor and Manila Bay 1898 1945 written by Mark Berhow and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-20 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Philippines were declared an American Territory on January 4, 1899, and fortification construction soon began on the islands in the mouth of Manila Bay. Among the sites built were Fort Mills (Corregidor), Fort Frank, and the formidable "concrete battleship" of Fort Drum. The defenses suffered constant Japanese bombardment during World War II, leading to the surrender of American forces. In 1945 the forts were manned by Japanese soldiers determined to hold out to the bitter end. This title details the fortifications of this key strategic location, and considers both their effectiveness and historical importance.
Download or read book Retaking the Philippines written by William B. Breuer and published by Saint Martin's Paperbacks. This book was released on 1986 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A volume on the liberation of the Philippines that concentrates on events from July 1944 through March 1945.
Download or read book Escape from Corregidor written by Edgar D. Whitcomb and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-12-03 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Escape from Corregidor is the harrowing account of Edgar Whitcomb, a B-17 navigator who arrives in World War II Philippines just before its invasion by the Japanese. Whitcomb evades the enemy on Bataan by fleeing to Corregidor Island in a small boat. He is captured but later manages to escape at night in an hours-long swim to safety. Captured once again weeks later, Whitcomb is imprisoned, tortured and starved, before being transferred to China and eventual freedom.
Download or read book We Band of Angels written by Elizabeth Norman and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the fall of 1941, the Philippines was a gardenia-scented paradise for the American Army and Navy nurses stationed there. War was a distant rumor, life a routine of easy shifts and dinners under the stars. On December 8 all that changed, as Japanese bombs began raining down on American bases in Luzon, and this paradise became a fiery hell. Caught in the raging battle, the nurses set up field hospitals in the jungles of Bataan and the tunnels of Corregidor, where they tended to the most devastating injuries of war, and suffered the terrors of shells and shrapnel. But the worst was yet to come. After Bataan and Corregidor fell, the nurses were herded into internment camps where they would endure three years of fear, brutality, and starvation. Once liberated, they returned to an America that at first celebrated them, but later refused to honor their leaders with the medals they clearly deserved. Here, in letters, diaries, and riveting firsthand accounts, is the story of what really happened during those dark days, woven together in a deeply affecting saga of women in war. Praise for We Band of Angels “Gripping . . . a war story in which the main characters never kill one of the enemy, or even shoot at him, but are nevertheless heroes . . . Americans today should thank God we had such women.”—Stephen E. Ambrose “Remarkable and uplifting.”—USA Today “[Elizabeth M. Norman] brings a quiet, scholarly voice to this narrative. . . . In just a little over six months these women had turned from plucky young girls on a mild adventure to authentic heroes. . . . Every page of this history is fascinating.”—Carolyn See, The Washington Post “Riveting . . . poignant and powerful.”—The Dallas Morning News Winner of the Lavinia Dock Award for historical scholarship, the American Academy of Nursing National Media Award, and the Agnes Dillon Randolph Award
Download or read book Decision on Corregidor written by Chuck Wullenjohn and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2013-01-31 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authentic, exciting story of a little-known piece of American history, Decision on Corregidor is the story of a man who becomes a hero, then rises above even that. Early 1942 witnessed the largest surrender of American forces in the history of our nation. A cautionary tale, this is the story of Ed Bannon, sent to the Philippine Islands to combat an enemy with unlimited supplies and manpower. Wearied by bitter, desperate battles, he hopes against hope that promises of help from the United States arrive in time to stem the tide. Extremely well researched, Decision on Corregidor is the gripping story of Americas military in its darkest hours.
Download or read book Captured Honor written by Bob Wodnik and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The time is November 1945, not long after Jack Elkins has returned from a prison camp in Japan to his hometown of Oakesdale, Washington. An autumn evening finds him before a gathering of townspeople clamoring to hear about his experiences. Jack is in turmoil. What they really want, he senses, is nice, neat stories of heroes who beat the odds. They want "blood without spatters" and death with dignity. What can he tell them? Burned forever in his mind are images of Japanese blood staining blue Manila Bay; of maggots assaulting the corpse of a buddy; of prisoner after prisoner relegated to small wooden boxes holding their cremated remains. Jack is unable to talk about what happened during his three years in Japanese prison camps. "There is no middle ground," in his estimation. "You either tell them all or tell them nothing." Standing up to the microphone, he whispers barely ten words to the audience, then sits down - and tries for the next half-century to forget." "It was fifty years before Jack could talk about his experiences as a prisoner of war; and he wasn't alone. In Captured Honor author Bob Wodnik presents the stories of several Pacific Northwest POWs. Yet this book is much more than a series of memoirs. Wodnik opens a variety of windows on World War II. Readers see prison-camp life in unrelenting detail. They glimpse the impact of firebombing on Japanese cities. They hear the difficulties of World War II veterans in adapting to life after the war. In an intriguing counterpoint. Wodnik anchors the entire work in the lobby of the Strand Hotel in downtown Everett, contrasting the horrors of a Japanese prison camp with the quiet life of a bibliophile desk clerk during World War II."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Hellships Down written by Michael Sturma and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-03-18 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 12 September 1944, a wolfpack of U.S. submarines attacked the Japanese convoy HI-72 in the South China Sea. Among the ships sunk were two carrying Allied prisoners of war. Men who had already endured the trials of Japanese captivity faced a renewed struggle for survival at sea. This book tells the broader story of the HI-72 convoy through the stories of two survivors: Arthur Bancroft, who was rescued by an American submarine, and Charles "Rowley" Richards, who was rescued by the Japanese. The story of these men represents the thousands of Allied POWs who suffered not only the atrocious conditions of these Japanese hellships, but also the terror of friendly fire from their own side's submarines. For the first time, the personal, political and legal aftermath of these men's experiences is fully detailed. At its heart, this is a story of survival. Charting the survivors' fates from rescue to their attempts at retribution, this book reveals the trauma that continued long after the war was over.
Download or read book Escape From Davao written by John D. Lukacs and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “riveting” (John Wukovits, author of Admiral “Bull” Halsey) and all-but-unknown account of ten American prisoners of war who escaped from a Japanese prison during World War II. On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the “remarkable” (Bill Sloan, author of Brotherhood of Heroes) story of one of the most extraordinary incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. Over the decades this remarkable story, called the “greatest story of the war in the Pacific” by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war.
Download or read book Heroes of Bataan Corregidor and Northern Luzon written by Marcus Griffin and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Alibris: A pictorial history of the American men & women who became Japanese POWs with the surrender of the Philippines. It contains 1800+ individual photos with biographies, numerous unit group, & candid photos of before, during, & after imprisonment, maps & alphabetical & unit indexes. It is also a valuable genealogical source. Those who were Japanese POWs treasure it for the memories it recalls & it is a source of information & pride for families of POWs who did not survive or are not now living. A WWII chronology helps those who did not live through the war to better understand wartime events.
Download or read book Corregidor written by John Grehan and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2021-04-28 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Singapore and Hong Kong had fallen to the forces of Imperial Japan, Thailand and Burma had been invaded and islands across the Pacific captured. But one place, one tiny island fortress garrisoned by a few thousand hungry and exhausted men, refused to be beaten. That island fortress was Corregidor which guarded the entrance to Manila Bay and controlled all sea-borne access to Manila Harbor. At a time when every news bulletin was one of Japanese success, Corregidor shone as the only beacon of hope in the darkness of defeat. The Japanese 14th Army of Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma, threw everything it had at Corregidor, officially named Fort Mills. But deep within the island’s rocky heart, a tunnel had been excavated into Malinta Hill and there the US troops, marine, naval and army, endured the terrible onslaught. At their head was General Douglas MacArthur who became a national hero with his resolute determination never to surrender, until ordered to evacuate to Australia to avoid such a senior officer being captured by the enemy. Bur with his departure, the rest of the garrison knew that there was no possibility of relief. They would have to fight on until the bitter end, whatever form that might take. That end came in May 1942. The defenders were reduced to virtually starvation rations with many of them wounded. Consequently, when, on 5 May the Japanese mounted a powerful amphibious assault, the weakened garrison could defy the enemy no longer. Corregidor, the ‘Gibraltar of the East’, finally fell to the invaders. Those invaders were to become the invaded when MacArthur returned in January 1945. For three weeks, US aircraft, warships and artillery hammered the Japanese positions on Corregidor. Then, on 16 February, the Americans landed on the island. It took MacArthur’s men ten days to hunt down the last of the Japanese, after many had chosen to commit suicide rather than surrender, but Corregidor was at last back in Allied hands. In this unique collection of images, the full story Corregidor’s part in the Second World War is dramatically revealed. The ships, the aircraft, the guns, the fortifications and the men themselves, are shown here, portraying the harsh, almost unendurable, realities of war.
Download or read book I Am Alive written by Charles R. Jackson and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed military historian Norton presents this long-forgotten memoir by a Marine captured in the spring of 1942 and interned for three devastating years by the Japanese. Jackson describes the fierce yet impossible battle for Corregidor and the lethal reality of the POW camps. Original.
Download or read book As Good As Dead written by Stephen L. Moore and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] truly uplifting tale of deliverance from certain death . . . A deeply personal read, in which the reader is drawn into the highs and lows of the action, the tragedy, and the salvation, because Moore has so successfully drawn out the characters. . . . Compelling reading and hard to put down.”—Naval History The heroic story of eleven American POWs who defied certain death in World War II, As Good as Dead is an unforgettable account of the Palawan Massacre survivors and their daring escape. In late 1944, the Allies invaded the Japanese-held Philippines, and soon the end of the Pacific War was within reach. But for the last 150 American prisoners of war still held on the island of Palawan, there would be no salvation. After years of slave labor, starvation, disease, and torture, their worst fears were about to be realized. On December 14, with machine guns trained on them, they were herded underground into shallow air raid shelters—death pits dug with their own hands. Japanese soldiers doused the shelters with gasoline and set them on fire. Some thirty prisoners managed to bolt from the fiery carnage, running a lethal gauntlet of machine gun fire and bayonets to jump from the cliffs to the rocky Palawan coast. By the next morning, only eleven men were left alive—but their desperate journey to freedom had just begun. As Good as Dead is one of the greatest escape stories of World War II, and one that few Americans know. The eleven survivors of the Palawan Massacre—some badly wounded and burned—spent weeks evading Japanese patrols. They scrounged for food and water, swam shark-infested bays, and wandered through treacherous jungle terrain, hoping to find friendly Filipino guerrillas. Their endurance, determination, and courage in the face of death make this a gripping and inspiring saga of survival.
Download or read book From Bataan to Freedom written by Judy Reed and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-02-16 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Errett Lujan served during World War II with the U.S. Army 200th/515th Coast Artillery (Anti-aircraft) Regiment in the Philippines, the largest regiment on the islands when the Japanese invaded just hours after Pearl Harbor. The regiment was credited as both the first and the last to fire on the enemy before surrendering. Lujan survived the invasion, the Bataan Death March and more than three years in POW camps. After the war, he said little to his family about his harrowing experiences. Written by his daughter, this lovingly researched narrative pieces together the story of his service and his imprisonment, drawing on Lujan's diaries and letters, and original interviews with 200th/515th survivors and former POWs.
Download or read book Fighting for MacArthur written by John Gordon and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2011-10-15 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Fighting for MacArthur is a welcome addition to the scholarship on the Pacific War. Gordon makes extensive use of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps archives and interviews with veterans of the Philippine campaign. This is a well-written, engaging treatment of the steadily deteriorating position of the defenders in the Philippines.”—Michigan War Studies Review. For the first time the story of the Navy and Marine Corps in the 1941––42 Philippine campaign is told in a single volume. Drawing on a rich collection of both U.S. and recently discovered Japanese sources as well as official records and wartime diaries, Gordon chronicles the Americans’ desperate defense of the besieged islands. Gordon offers updated information about the campaign during which the Navy and Marines, fighting in what was largely an Army operation, performed some of their most unusual missions of the entire Pacific War. He also explains why the Navy's relationship with Gen. Douglas MacArthur became strained during this campaign, and remained so for the rest of the war. As a result of Gordon’s extensive primary source research, Fighting for MacArthur presents the most complete account of the dramatic efforts by elements of the Navy and Marine Corps to support the U.S. Army’s ill-fated defense of the Philippines.
