6 May 1942: Last Allied bastion in the Philippines, the American garrison on Corregidor Island, surrenders to the Japanese
The strategically placed Corregidor Island, at the entrance of Manila Bay, had been home to a garrison of American troops since the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, when Spain ceded the Philippines to the U.S. in the Treaty of Paris. U.S. Army nurses, who had signed up in peacetime for service in the Philippines, certainly got more than they bargained for when, in 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and America went to war in the Pacific.
Very quickly, Corregidor Island and the Bataan Peninsula just adjacent to it became a jungle war zone. By summer of 1942, American and Filipino forces, including all medical staff, in both the Bataan and on Corregidor had surrendered and been marched, some in what would become known to history as the Bataan Death March, to Japanese prison camps in the Philippines, where they would remain until the war's end in 1945. The stories told in the three books spotlit in this post all view this field of battle through a slightly different lens and are all excellent.
Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived the Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific
by Mary Cronk Farrell
Nonfiction
128 pages
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (2014)
Recommended for: Dialectic students (outstanding for Rhetoric students and adults as well)
I previewed this book right when it was published, intending to give it a quick look for suitability for one of my kiddos. Next thing I knew, I had read the entire thing. There is not a thing I would change. The text is emotionally impactful--sharing the horrors and the triumphs--and rich in first person accounts from these amazing women. Lots of maps and photos are included. I cannot stress enough the courage and, as the title says, grit of these women. They suffered almost everything the men suffered: malnutrition, emotional trauma, tropical diseases, squalid prison camp living conditions, and lack of medical supplies. Through it all, they continued to serve, both the wounded men and each other, in a bid to make a horrific situation just a little bit more bearable. Every young woman should read this book. These women were angels in a heroes guise.
Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission
by Hampton Sides
Nonfiction
384 pages
Publisher: Anchor (2002)
Recommended for: Rhetoric students and adults
I read around eighty quality adult fiction and nonfiction books a year, about half nonfiction and half fiction. A question I am frequently asked is which is my favorite, a near impossible query, as I read so many good ones. However, this book has been among my top five nonfiction favorites since I read it the year it came out. Hampton Sides is a master of the art of narrative nonfiction, and this was the book he was born to write.
Sides utilizes two narrative threads, that of the prisoners and that of the group of U.S. Army Rangers being sent in to rescue them. His riveting, descriptive prose is spot on for bringing to life the details of setting, emotional toll, and plot. You feel as if you were there in the jungle for the final battles before surrender and the hell that was life in the camps. The pace of the narrative gradually accelerates as the daring plan to rescue the prisoners begins to take shape. As the two threads of the book barrel toward their joining--the liberation of the camp--you find yourself unable to put the book down, because even though you know the outcome, you just cannot wait to find out how it all goes down. This book is an absolute must for anyone wanting to study the Pacific theater of World War II.
The Fall of the Philippines: 1941-1942
by Clayton K. S. Chun
Nonfiction
96 pages
Publisher: Osprey (2012)
Nobody does short, introductory books about individual battles from military history better than Osprey Publishing; you will find many of their offerings on my lists. Each book is written by an expert and is full of all the extras that are pivotal to make a book in the military history genre successful: maps, photos, mission reports, and first person accounts. The books consistently rank very highly in reviews written by military personnel who actually served in the engagement that is the book's topic. Often the only low reviews come from readers who did not read the book's description and, expecting a longer, more in depth study, were disappointed that the book presented just an overview. Although they are written for adults, they are perfect introductions to the battle in question for Rhetoric students and even Dialectic students with an interest in military history.
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