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The Last Lieutenant - Indiana native Dr. John C. Shively writes this amazing story of his uncle, Lieutenant Jim
Craig of Pendleton, Indiana who led a platoon of U.S. Marines at Iwo Jima.
The Last Lieutenant is a war memoir about my Uncle Jim Craig of Pendleton, Indiana.
He was at Purdue University when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and received his commission as a second lieutenant.
Iwo Jima was the only campaign he fought in. He was placed in command of the 1st Platoon in the 24th Marines.
84% of his men were casualties, but Jim walked off the island after the battle virtually without a scratch. The book
describes the battle from Jim's perspective; what the war was like for a grunt on the ground. He describes how his platoon
took out individual Japanese positions and how the death of one of his men affected him and how he dealt with this. In rather
graphic detail, the deaths of his men are described. AFter the battle he goes back to Hawaii and is training for the invasion of Japan when he learns
of Hiroshima and the
end of the war. There is a chapter describing what I saw on Iwo Jima when I visited the island in 2002.
Dr. John C. Shively
Author
1051: An American POW's Remarkable Journey During World War II - "1051" was his POW number and
the title of his fantastic book. Millard E. Hileman refused to surrender at Bataan and was led on an escape to the jungles
and mountains by Bedford, Indiana native Wallace Kinder. Read of his many adventures as a fugitive and as a POW in the Philippines
and Japan.
Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides - The Bataan Death March was just the beginning of the woes American
soldiers captured by the Japanese army in the Philippines had to endure. The survivors of the march faced not only their captors'
regular brutality (having surrendered, they were considered to be less than honorable foes), but also a host of illnesses
such as dysentery and malaria. For three years these "ghost soldiers" lived in misery, suffering terrible losses.
When Army Rangers among Douglas MacArthur's forces arrived in the Philippines, they hatched a daring plan to liberate their
captured comrades, a mission that, if successful, would prove to be a tremendous morale booster at the front and at home.
Led by a young officer named Henry Mucci (called "Little MacArthur" for his constant pipe as well as his brilliance as a strategist),
a combined Ranger and Filipino guerrilla force penetrated far behind enemy lines, attacked Japanese forces guarding Allied
prisoners at a jungle outpost called Cabanatuan, and shepherded hundreds of prisoners to safety, with an angry Japanese army
in hot pursuit. Amazingly, they suffered only light casualties.
In Ghost Soldiers, journalist Hampton Sides recounts that daring rescue, once known to every American schoolchild
but now long forgotten. A gifted storyteller, Sides packs his narrative with detailed descriptions of the principal actors
on both sides of the struggle and with moments of danger and exhilaration. Thrilling from start to finish, his book celebrates
the heroism of hundreds of warriors and brings renewed attention to one of the Rangers' finest hours. --Gregory McNamee,
Editorial Review
Angels at Dawn by Edward M. Flanagan - Originally published as
"The Los Baos Raid: The 11th Airborne Jumps at Dawn, " this book recounts the complete story of a raid conducted in the last
days of World War II on the Los Baos Japanese internment camp, which was located 25 miles behind enemy lines and held over
2,000 civilian POWs.
My Hitch in Hell (Bataan) by Lester I. Tenney - Tenney here recounts his experiences as a GI during
the fall of the Philippines in 1941, his participation in the Bataan death march and his three-year ordeal in Camp 17, the
harshest POW camp in Japan. He witnessed devastating atrocities, including serial slaughter that was a kind of athletic exercise
for the guards. Soon after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he was set free; his wanderings about the countryside and interactions
with Japanese civilians and leaderless soldiers form the most interesting sections of this engrossing book. Tenney suffered
unexpected heartbreak when, upon being reunited with his family, he learned that his wife, believing him killed in action,
had remarried. He also experienced depression based largely on his image of himself as one of "the losers who had surrendered"
in the Philippines. In 1988, he revisited Japan and found that his psychic war wounds were beginning to heal. For all the
suffering he witnessed and endured, Tenney's memoir is remarkably upbeat. He is a retired professor of finance at Arizona
State University. Photos.
My Faraway Home by Mary McKay Maynard - On the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Mary
McKay's father was managing a gold mine on the Philippine island of Mindanao. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines, the
McKays fled into the jungle, believing their stay would be brief. But the days turned into two harrowing years of battling
heat, hunger, and natural disasters. After the war, in 1947, they went back to the Philippines, where, ironically, more tragedy
was waiting...
Abandoned on Bataan by Oliver "Red" Allen - Abandoned on Bataan: One Man's Story of Survival is a remarkable
and enduring tale from a living survivor of the Bataan Death March, one of the most horrifying events of World War II. The
story by Oliver 'Red' Allen is dedicated to his two sons on the 60th anniversary of the event.
Avenging Bataan by B. David Mann - When General MacArthur and the United States suffered a devastating
defeat by surrendering the Bataan Peninsula to the Japanese in 1942, it was only worsened by learning of the brutal treatment
of the American POWs. Outraged by this news, the entire country and particularly the Army vowed to avenge the defeat and the
infamous Bataan Death March.
"Avenging Bataan: The Battle of Zigzag Pass" is a well-researched and detailed historical account of the struggle to liberate
Bataan in 1945 by opening the highway through Zigzag Pass. Featuring coverage of both the American and Japanese forces, this
account provides insight into the day by day life and death struggle of battle. The story is told through interviews, letters,
and reports by men - from both sides - who fought the battle .
Complete with the historical background of events leading up to and surrounding the Battle of Zigzag Pass, the author’s
research includes strategic information along with personal accounts. A gripping portrayal of both the Americans and Japanesse
at war, "Avenging Bataan" helps preserve the legacy of World War II for future generations.
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