Note
from Suz: Today I have a recommended read. It's a book that I
actually bought when it first came out, based on its glowing review in
Publishers Weekly. But I put it on my shelf, along with my many other WWII
military nonfiction books that I figured I'd get around to "some
day."
But then, recently, a writer friend gave me another copy as a gift, for inspiration. (Thanks, Karen! It really worked!) And this time, instead of setting it aside, I started to read it.
It's called Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. It's terrific -- it's quite possibly the best written, most compelling military non-fiction that I've ever read, and believe me, I've read quite a few!
Here's the cover blurb for this book:
On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected troops from the elite U.S. Army 6th Ranger Battalion slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty miles in an attempt to rescue 513 American and British POWs who had spent three years in a surreally hellish camp near the city of Cabanatuan. The prisoners included the last survivors of the Bataan Death March left in the camp, and their extraordinary will to live might soon count for nothing--elsewhere in the Philippines, the Japanese Army had already executed American prisoners as it retreated from the advancing U.S. Army. As the Rangers stealthily moved through enemy territory, they learned that Cabanatuan had become a major transshipment point for the Japanese retreat, and instead of facing a few dozen prison guards, they could possibly confront as many as 8,000 battle-hardened enemy troops.
Yeah.
It's an awesome book, filled with wonderful real-life characters -- I recommend it highly! (And someone call Tom Hanks and tell him about this book -- it's time for him to make another awesome HBO miniseries!)
Why did I choose today of all days to recommend this book, you may wonder. It's a spoiler, but, hey, come on. You didn't really think the Rangers wouldn't get the job done, did you? <g>
59 years ago today (on March 8, 1945), at 10:12 a.m. Pacific Time, 272 American servicemen and former Cabanatuan POWs finally returned home to their families when their transport ship, the SS General Anderson, pulled into San Francisco Bay.
Hoo-yah!
That's all for now! Be sure to come back for tomorrow's installment in the Countdown to FLASHPOINT!
See you tomorrow!