Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account of the Bataan Death March and the Men Who Lived Through It
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Author: Manny Lawton List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours  |
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 | Product Details: Paperback 320 pages Release Date: 03 January 2004 Publisher: Algonquin Books ISBN: 1565124340 Rating:  Sales Rank: 57558 | | Look for similar books by subject:
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| | Customer Reviews: Good Account (12 June 2010)Good account of the situation but was slow at times. At about half way I got the point and it seemed like I was rereading the same earlier stories. Great but depressing (01 April 2010)This is really a good book about the trails and tribulations of the subject and the people he came across during this tragedy. Its a bit depressing and can make you become very angry with the Japaneese. All in all a good read. But, be careful. Its graphic and gut wrenching. puts you there (21 August 2009)Excellent book. Puts the reader in the midst of this incredible true story. This amazing story will rend your heart and amaze you with the incredible courage exhibited by our soldiers. A testimony to the atrocities and murder of American soldiers by Japanese soldiers during World War II (17 June 2009)The worst of the worst Japanese soldiers responsible for the horrific savagery inflicted upon allied soldiers and civilians during the Bataan Death March were tracked down, tried, and executed after the war. Still, one can't help but be deeply troubled by reading over and again, of the pleasure Japanese guards took in the starving, beating and killing of allied prisoners during World War II. Ignoring even the most basic rules of international humanitarian law, Japanese soldiers behaved in as depraved, evil and barbaric manner as one can imagine. They slapped, kicked and brutalized prisoners on a daily basis, beheaded others at will, and - by war's end - they had enslaved, tortured, and killed thousands of civilians and defenseless allied soldiers. The author, Manny Lawton, takes the reader back in time, back to the beginning of the Pacific Campaign. He is a 23-year-old Army Captain, a couple of years out of Clemson University's ROTC program and the U.S. Army's Infantry School. Assigned as a "battalion military advisor," to the 500-man, 1st Battalion, 31st Infantry of the Philippine Army, he is the only American in the battalion. Then, when the American forces are overrun in the Philippines - four months after Pearl Harbor - we see that he and the other soldiers are already shell-shocked, exhausted, starving, and suffering from malaria, beriberi and a host of other tropical maladies. We follow Lawson, from the beginning when he is captured and joins the thousands of others as they are force-marched five to six days, on the notorious "Death March"; then we follow him as he is moved and marched from one prison to another, one ship to the next, through the Philippines, to Japan and then - by war's end - to a hard labor camp in Korea. We meet his friends from his old units, from the ROTC program back home and then - as the years pass - from previous prison camps. We hear him, as he tells in his own words, his feelings of fear, anger, and then sheer determination, as he suffers and watches hundreds of others go through sheer hell. We read of the horrendous suffering and thousands of men who died aboard the Shinyo Maru, the Arisan Maru, the Oryoku Maru, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru. Lawson honors the dead by telling their story very effectively. With the guidance and assistance of William Emerson -- former editor of the Saturday Evening Post -- and the noted Southern scholar, and editor, Dr. Louis D. Rubin, Jr. his words flow easily. The reader can't help but feel that they "are there" in the bunk, in the foxhole in the ship's hold, there with him. He tells the story in a patient, painstaking way; the truth, and nothing but the truth -- allowing the reader to learn what really happened during those years, in a manner that is not exaggerated, not overly emotional or glossed over in any way, just the truth. It is important that this story not be forgotten, that we honor the memory of all of the American, British and soldiers of other nationalities, who died so savagely at the hands of their murderous and truly evil Japanese captors during World War II. Lawson's book is a testimonial - a story of sorrow and thanksgiving - it belongs on the bookshelf of every public library in America, the Philippines and Japan. Highly recommended. Note: This review is written in memory of my old friend, Sgt. Pasquale S. DiGiacomo, of Brooklyn, New York. Captured as a Japanese prisoner of war at age 29 on Bataan on April 9, 1942, "Pat" participated in the "Death March," was imprisoned at Camp O'Donnell and then shipped to Japan where he was a slave-laborer in the Osaka Camp steel mill. Beaten almost daily, starved, and suffering from malaria and broken bones, by war's end he had worked 3-1/2 years of his life as a slave for the Japanese. Now deceased, Sgt. DiGiacomo never understood why he never received a penny of reparation or an apology of any kind from the Japanese government. R. Neil Scott Middle Tennessee State University You think your Hungry? (03 March 2009)Amazing details and a true story of survival! This is a first hand account of the cruelty of the Japanese Army! As I read about the beatings, lack of food, and cruel conditions they were put through I wonder if I would have given up and died or struggled on. Great details of how man can turn into animals under any circumstances! Try living off a spoon of water and a handful of rice for 4 days at a time then you will know how they lived.The stories of prisoners on transport ships is AMAZING! The cruel treatment from the Japanese Army and the Joy the Japanese army had in watching prisoners die can raise a little bit of hatred and resentment to the Japanese army after reading this book. If you want to know about POW survival under Japanese rule during WW II then read this book! | |
