Back to Bataan - Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission - Review

National Review, Oct 1, 2001 by Victorino Matus

Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission, by Hampton Sides (Doubleday, 342 pp., $24.95)

On January 28, 1945, 121 U.S. Army Rangers went behind enemy lines to raid Camp Cabanatuan, deep in the Philippine jungle. Their objective was to liberate the camp's 511 American prisoners-the last survivors of the Bataan Death March. But just as the Rangers were poised to begin their assault, they received an ominous report: A mere four miles from these 121 men were stationed more than 7,000 Japanese troops. And only one mile from the POW camp was a bivouac of 200 more enemy soldiers-the elite forces of the Dokuho 359 Imperial Battalion.

But there was no turning back: The Rangers had to succeed. The prisoners were the men Douglas MacArthur had left behind; for the past three years, they had been suffering unimaginable tortures. There were rumors that the Japanese had orders to wipe out all remaining camp inmates before the Americans arrived; the Rangers would have to be swift, and rely heavily on the element of surprise.

If the plan succeeded, it would go down as one of the most brilliant raids in U.S. military history. If not, the consequences would be disastrous: Even the smallest mistake could turn this prison break into a bloodbath. As it turned out, the raid was a tremendous success. War photographer Carl Mydans said in Life magazine: "It is now American history and every child of coming generations will know of the 6th Rangers, for a prouder story has not been written."

So why has no one ever heard of the raid at Camp Cabanatuan? The POWs did have their 15 minutes of fame, including a glorious entry under the Golden Gate bridge, welcomed by tens of thousands of well-wishers. But in the ensuing months came Iwo Jima, Okinawa, victory in Europe and then in the Pacific. The stunning raid on Cabanatuan was largely forgotten by history.

Hampton Sides hopes to change this with his powerful new retelling of the raid. Using prisoner diaries, U.S. and Japanese army records, other archived transcripts, and extensive interviews with survivors, he has crafted a book chock-full of dialogue, anecdotes, and meticulous detail. Aside from the thrilling attack itself, it's the prisoners' tales that are most gripping. The Japanese treated the vast majority of Americans and Filipinos ruthlessly (though Sides does point out a few instances of Japanese acts of kindness amid the cruelty). Most of the abuse would take place during the 75-mile forced march that became known as the Bataan Death March.

Sides is unrelenting in his graphic depictions of the atrocities: One guard "greedily eyed an officer's West Point ring . . . but because his hands were swollen with beriberi, the American was unable to slide it off his finger. . . . Becoming more and more frustrated, the guard tried to wrench it off himself. When that proved ineffectual, he finally took the American's hand and placed it against a tree. Then he brandished his sword and chopped off the whole finger to get at the coveted souvenir." Many others suffered far worse fates, including 350 members of the Philippine 91st Army who were "herded up, tied with telephone wire, and systematically beheaded by sword." All told, roughly 750 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos never completed the march.

But the barbarity didn't end there. At one POW facility, men were dying at a rate of 30 to 40 each day. (To put it in perspective: The number of American prisoners killed in German and Italian camps during the war was about 4 percent-but the number killed in Japanese camps was 27 percent.) In June 1942, the prisoners there were moved to Camp Cabanatuan-which became the largest American POW camp in the world. Though fewer prisoners were dying at the hands of the Japanese in Cabanatuan, malaria, diphtheria, and beriberi were running rampant. In June, more than 500 men died; in July, more than 700. Not until December did Cabanatuan celebrate its first "zero-death day."

Not all the accounts in Ghost Soldiers are macabre; in fact, humor turns out to be essential to the POWs' struggle to survive. In one case, prisoners nicknamed one of their Japanese captors Donald Duck. Finally he demanded, "Who is Do-noo Duck?" To which they replied, "He's a famous Hollywood movie star!" He then asked if Mr. Duck made lots of money. "Millions!" they said. "From now on, you address me as Do-noo Duck."

Sides has done us quite a favor in bringing to our attention physical and psychological hardships that have gone unnoticed for over 50 years. And he has given us a glance at what happens to man when he is confronted with his own mortality and that of his companions. One survivor, Bert Bank, stated this with remarkable eloquence:

I just prayed for myself, for my friends. Prayed for the strength to make it through this. I was not angry at God. Who was I to second-guess God? But I was theologically confused. Why had I been spared? Why had my friends died? They were good people. They loved their families. They were honest and true. You ask these sort of questions all the time, and you never get a satisfactory answer. God does strange things. But sometimes you can feel a presence. You can sense that this is all happening to teach us something about the nature of free will.