“The Epic Account of WWII’s Greatest Rescue Mission”

Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides shares the true story of the daring raid of 121 hand-selected men during WWII who traveled into the Philippines to rescue the survivors of the Bataan Death March and the other prisoners of war (POW).

The Bataan Death March took place in 1942 after the U.S. surrendered the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines to the Japanese. The tens of thousands of American prisoners of war and Filipinos were forced by Japanese military to march 65 miles to a prison camp in San Fernando.

Given little to no provisions along the way, the POWs and native people marched in sweltering heat for days on end. 76,000 men started the trek and along the way, 22,000 marchers died. Thousands more perished upon reaching the location of the prison camp due to lack of nourishment and deteriorating health. 

Prisoners that fell down along the trail were left behind and abandoned. Others were killed for walking too slow or disobeying orders from guards. The prisoners also faced disease and malnourishment from the guards and the leaders in charge of the camp. 

Led by U.S. Army Ranger Henry Mucci, the group of hand-picked men numbering 121 flew out to rescue the marching prisoners. The group was guided by local Filipino guerrilla members in order to evade the Japanese scouts. Mucci limited his criteria for joining the rescue group to young, unmarried men and no atheists.

The mission was essentially a suicide mission and Mucci knew that getting to the prison camp was a struggle by itself, not to mention the escape with search parties and the added difficulty of traveling with crippled, sick and malnourished people.

One thing that was difficult in reading this book was the names. Throughout the novel many of the prisoners in the prison camp are mentioned and described. This alone was not a challenge but later in the book they were mentioned participating in certain activities and I was forced to go back and find out who they were.

The other difficulty was the Japanese names. I just had general trouble distinguishing certain people from each other.

In the following podcast, junior Andrew Rieker discusses historical novels with Bryce Foshee, ’21.

Throughout Ghost Soldiers, the author informs the reader of well-known events that are happening at the same time. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel as it gave me the ability to achieve some perspective into what the characters might have been thinking and feeling.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those who enjoy historical novels, specifically during the WWII time period. I also would recommend this to people that enjoy reading adventure or action novels. 

For those who enjoyed this book I would recommend Once an Arafat Man by Tass Saada, The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw and The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel.

This book can be purchased on Amazon for $10.

For another book review, read: Book Review: Under a War Torn Sky. For another article, read Annabelle Messer overcomes injury, shows dedication to soccer.