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Escape From Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War |  | Author: John D. Lukacs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 42167
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.547252095997
ASIN: B003IYI6W4
Publication Date: April 24, 2010
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Product Description
On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan's most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the story of one of the most remarkable incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed.
Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities.
Over the decades this remarkable story, called the "greatest story of the war in the Pacific" by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war. (edited by author)
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
What a read...and ride! September 8, 2010
Bookimus Maximus
Out of all the WW2 books I've read (a number somewhere in the high hundreds) in my lifetime, never have I felt so intimately involved with a story as I did with this one. Cracking open this book is like stepping into a time machine; the author's amazing powers of description take you back to 1943 and immerse you so fully into the story it's almost as if you're there - on Bataan, on the Death March, in Manila, the prison camps, the jungle, wartime Washington, etc - watching this incredible tale unfold yourself. I didn't think it was possible to have PTSD from simply reading a war book, but this book will touch you and affect you in ways you can't imagine, and continue to do so long after you put it down. But perhaps most importantly, when you finish the last sentence and return to the present, you'll have a much greater understanding of the definition of the words "heroes," "sacrifice" and "patriotism." I know I did. Thanks for the best historical read, as well as ride, of 2010!
dapecol unearthed September 2, 2010
rachel
DAPECOL UNEARTHED
eddie rojo
John Lukacs had us all traveled in a time machine 70 years back. The agonies of the 2nd world war were so vivid they send shivers into our spine. The author has skillfully laid before every reader how a global fury-- which preceded a victorious state of social consciousness for both American and Filipino--has opened a forgotten chapter of the second world war in the pacific.
Escape From Davao also illustrates the might of the free press. For Filipinos, the book is a stark reminiscence of their national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, who exposed to the world the barbaric atrocities inflicted upon on every Filipino "Indios" by the Spaniards. In the same breath, aided by the might of Rizal's pen, freedom was ultimately regained.
For the POW escapees, who would be in a "damn if they do, damn if they don't" condition, theirs were seemingly the lives that the "Grand Old Man" has personally picked to do the role as catalysts in levelling the field of man's deadliest game, war. They rescued not just the captive comrades but the decadence of mankind's moral standard in the face of global chaos.
By and large, Lukacs's book is a hard copy testament of how a nation, under the auspices of democratic principles, should adhere, preserve and fight for media freedom equally as the struggle for the preservation of the right to live by its citizens.
And if I have to recommend, John Lukacs's brilliant crafting of historical facts into an action-packed novel qualifies a recognition from the governments of the United States and the Republic of the Philippines.
A must read...for anyone August 22, 2010
Thomas Lowell
John Lukacs has written an amazing book that anyone would enjoy, not just history and/or WWII enthusiasts. The story of the Escape from Davao stands on it's own, but the way in which John tells the story makes it truly engaging. He introduces the men of the escape party in a way that makes you understand where each is coming from, and as the book progresses, you really care for each. The "character" development and the pace with which the book is written gives it much more of a feel of a thriller than a history.
One other aspect that I believe John handled very well was how he approached the Filipino's and the American government. The Filipino's risked just as much as the Americans, but from men in the camp to the resistance fighters along the journey, John, through the escapees, gives them their just credit. Additionally, John does not bring in his own bias towards the inaction of the American government towards the Philippines, rather he lets the thoughts and writings of the escapees tell the frustration that they felt.
This is truly a book for anyone who loves a great, well-told story.
Time to reflect on our brave Filipino allies August 16, 2010
Jean Sasson (Atlanta, Georgia)
John D. Lukacs has written about an extremely important, yet little known event in World War II, transporting his reading audience back to that place to live the drama of the day. Lukacs has given his readers the account of the American soldiers' escape from Davao in a riveting, can't put down the book, style. Although I have been an avid reader of World War II events since I was fifteen years old, like most Americans, I am more knowledgable regarding the European front than the Japanese front. (This, despite the fact my father's only brother was a soldier serving on the Japanese front. Something my Uncle Claude would never discuss, much to my dismay.) This great book by Lukacs has greatly increased my knowledge and subsequently, my understanding of the Pacific war.
A few years ago I was lucky to be able to tour Corregidor, along with two dearly loved Filipinos-Frank & Lydia Iglesias... That was quite an experience and for the first time I learned that Frank was an infant during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. Tragically, in the heat of occupation, some Japanese soldiers commenced murdering Filipino babies by tossing those babies into the air and stabbling them with their bayonets. Frank was saved from an early death after his mother dashed to the soldier who threatened her son, offering a ripe waternmelon for the infant Frank's return. Thus Frank Iglegias lived another day, surviving a terrible occupation to grow up and one day marry the beautiful Lydia, have 9 children, and then travel to Saudi Arabia with his wife to become a "treasured family member" of the Sasson household.
While reading this book I was caught up with the drama of the prisoner soldiers' lives, YET reminded of how much we Americans owe our Filipino allies. Most who meet Filipinos find that they are extremely hard-working and loyal... Therefore, it was without surprise that I learned that without the Filipinos, many more Americans would have perished, including the ten brave men who walked away from Davao only to find that the vast jungle surrounding the camp was nearly as hard to survive as the enemy soldiers. Once again, Filipino rebels fighting their Japanese occupiers saved the day... I say thanks to those generous hearted Filipinos!
(For those of you who have access to old LIFE MAGAZINES, the February 7th, 1944 issue has a 36-page article interviewing three of the survivors of the escape. It's a marvelous reading addition to Lukacs' fabulous book.)
For anyone with the smallest interest in gaining knowledge about one of the most amazing prisoner escapes of World War II, I highly recommend ESCAPE FROM DAVAO.
Bravo to John Lukacs...
The best darn narrative about the Davao escape August 2, 2010
Samuel E Grashio
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My father, Samuel C Grashio, was one of the escapees from the Davao Penal Colony in the Phillipine islands during WWII."Escape from Davao" written by John Lukacs is by far the most complete narrative on that subject. Although many others, including the escapees, have written about this event none have researched as thuroughly and intensly as has John Lukacs. His historical, political and human insights about the escapees and the escape itself are second to none. He includes bios of each of the escapees before, during and after the escape that compliments this historical event as none other has. His narrative reads more like a novel than a historical event. It is one of those books that you cannot put down until completion.
In his book John introduces the reader to an array of characters that were all pertinent to the success of the escape as no other author has. He also expains the polical state of the US government that put a "gag" order on all the escapees that would not allow them to devulge any aspect of their escape to anyone not even their wives and families. It took Ed Dyess, one of the leaders of the escape months before he was allowed to write a very censured version of the escape, conditions in the prison camps, and inhumane treatment that the American and Phillipine soldiers endured. It is a must read for all history buffs as this was the only succesful mass escape from the Japanese.
McArthur eventually sent submarines to the islands to take the escapees to Australia where they were eventually debriefed. All but one, Leo Bollens, made it to Australia and freedom. Leo was eventually recaptured and tortured to death. If real life excitement is your cup of tea then "Escape from Davao" is a must read for you.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
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