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Summary: Fantastic
Review: An epic saga. Once I started reading I could not put it down
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Summary: An absorbing account of an unjustifiably forgotten story
Review: Hampton Sides deserves a great deal of praise for writing a memorable account of not just the famous Bataan Death March but also a January 1945 rescue mission of American POWs from the Bataan Death March which has largely been lost in the annals of history, despite the fact that it remains the largest POW rescue in American history. Sides artfully intersperses chapters describing the fall of the Phillippines with the story of the Army Raiders and Fillipino guerillas group who pulled off the amazing rescue of over 500 POWs who were interned in a rural prison camp and in substantial jeopardy of being murdered by the retreating Japanese as the Americans invaded the Phillippines in early 1945. This is an extremely insightful book, giving fresh perspectives into such things as why the Japanese mistreated American prisoners so badly both during the Bataan Death March and in the prison camps. It treats the relationships between the three cultures--American, Fillipino, and Japanese--quite sensitively. Sides has also done his homework in terms of interviewing surviving vets of both the POW group and those who raided the camp to rescue them, and has made this a lively, hard-to-put-down account. He has truly rescued from obscurity a story that deserves to be remembered, and has drawn important parallels between this POW experience and that of Americans who were interned by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. If you interested in World War II in the Pacific, this book should be irresistable to you.
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Summary: Incredible....
Review: This is one of the most moving books I have read in a long time. It should be mandatory reading in every high school in the US. A must read.
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Summary: My impression of Ghost Soldiers
Review: I really enjoyed the meat of the book but the author took to many rambling side trips. The actual mission the newly formed rangers went on to rescue the prisoners of war was great. There were real personal feelings of many men narrated with skill. I did object to reading several hundred pages of other stories of the Far East War interjected in between the story of the ghost soliders. I would recommend reading the book as other readers may enjoy reading the history of the Philippine Campaign as much of the war is covered in this book
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Summary: Eye-Opening in More Ways Than One
Review: "Ghost Soldiers" is one of those rare books that immediately arrests your attention and doesn't loosen its hold until the final page. Hampton Sides has resurrected a long-forgotten story of the liberation of Bataan Death March survivors from a POW camp in the Philippines. What makes the narrative especially gripping is Sides' skillful technique of alternating the storyline between the pitiful fate of the U.S. soldiers held in captivity, and the cunning preparation and daring execution of plans to liberate them three years later. For me, the book was truly eye opening in more ways than one. Not far from my parents' Connecticut home, there's a highway named after Colonel Henry Mucci. I had often wondered who he was and what he'd done to merit such acclaim. Thanks to "Ghost Soldiers" I wonder no longer.
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Summary: I didn't know that!
Review: A wonderful and exciting history lesson of the WWII events in the Philipines. Until Ghost Soldiers my only image of this part of the world during the war was General McCarthur wading through the surf with a corn cob pipe clenched between his teeth. I didn't know that the Death March of Bataan took place in the Philipines, and I thought Mucci was an Italian food delicay not a daring, dashing colonel in the Rangers. The author clearly did in depth research and he wove together a number of parallel stories, and actions without confusing the reader, and at the same time he energized the prose and narratives to keep the pages turning at a furious pace. My enthusiasm has sold at least two additional copies plus my copy is on its second loan out. Great, gutsy reading for any season.
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Summary: An extremely well written book!
Review: This book was so well written that once I started reading, I could not put it down. I ended up reading until I finished it at 2 am and my only dissapointment was when it ended. I throughly recommend it to everyone.
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Summary: Don't Put It Down.....
Review: Hampton Sides has a talent for telling a story. This book would make excellent fiction - but it is the fact that it is a true story, beautifully told, that makes it so compelling and so impossible to put down. Hampton Sides takes you inside the characters he describes and makes you question just how resilient or brave you could be if faced with the same horrors, challenges and dilemmas. Based largely in Pampanga, Philippines, this is a story of men's greatness. It makes you feel humble to read of people of such fortitude and bravery. This is a book that is difficult to put down.
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Summary: A must read for anyone interested in WWII.
Review: Ghost Soldiers ranks up there with The Triumph and the Glory and Flags of our Fathers. Hampton Sides has won my respect and admiration for the job he has done on this fine book. Five Stars!
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Summary: A gripping account of WWII POW rescue mission
Review: I really learned a lot of things I did not know about WWII when I read this book. A relative gave it to me as a gift since military history is one of my favorite subjects. Before reading this book, I have not spent much time learning about the pacific theatre. I have always thought that the European part of WWII much more interesting. This book has completely changed my perspective. The book focuses on the surrender of the Phillipines to the Imperiel Japanes Army, the treatment of allied POWs by the Japanese, and subsequent rescue mission by US Army Rangers. All three topics make for fascinating, eye-opening discovery. The author uses a lot of personal accounts and quotes from soldiers who lived through this saga, which adds an element of realism that I have not found in many other books. This technique drew me into the story and gave me a whole new perspective about what happened to these soldiers. Your heart will ache when you learn about the treatment of the POWs, and leap with joy during the rescue mission portion. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a unique story from WWII. This book is not a dry, boring history book. Instead it tells the sad story of what happened to our soldiers in the Phillipines during WWII, and the inspiring story of the men who rescued them. The fact that any of the POWs survived their ordeal is a miracle, and the story of how the US Army rangers completed this "mission impossible" is fascinating. For anyone currently serving in the military, get it and read it. It will give you a whole new appreciation of those who have gone before us (some paying the ultimaye price), and motivate you to do well the duty that lies before you.
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