Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its AftermathFor the first four months of 1942, U.S., Filipino, and Japanese soldiers fought what was America’s first major land battle of World War II, the battle for the tiny Philippine peninsula of Bataan. It ended with the surrender of 76,000 Filipinos and Americans, the single largest defeat in American military history. The defeat, though, was only the beginning, as Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman make dramatically clear in this powerfully original book. From then until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered an ordeal of unparalleled cruelty and savagery: forty-one months of captivity, starvation rations, dehydration, hard labor, deadly disease, and torture—far from the machinations of General Douglas MacArthur. The Normans bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy. Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a figure out of Hemingway: a young cowboy turned sketch artist from Montana who joined the army to see the world. Juxtaposed against Steele’s story and the sobering tale of the Death March and its aftermath is the story of a number of Japanese soldiers. The result is an altogether new and original World War II book: it exposes the myths of military heroism as shallow and inadequate; it makes clear, with great literary and human power, that war causes suffering for people on all sides. |
Contents
GHOSTS | 3 |
ONE | 8 |
TWO | 34 |
THREE | 55 |
FOUR | 71 |
FIVE | 111 |
SIX | 134 |
SEVEN | 161 |
CONTENTS | 474 |
MAP OF THE BATAAN | 476 |
AUTHORS NOTE | 478 |
GHOSTS | 3 |
ONE | 8 |
TWO | 34 |
THREE | 55 |
FOUR | 71 |
EIGHT | 219 |
NINE | 246 |
TEN | 266 |
ELEVEN | 298 |
TWELVE | 318 |
THIRTEEN | 343 |
IMAGINE AFTER EVERYTHING THIS | 386 |
NOTES | 399 |
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY | 423 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 437 |
INDEX | 445 |
COVER | 465 |
TITLE | 468 |
COPYRIGHT | 469 |
FIVE | 111 |
SIX | 134 |
SEVEN | 161 |
EIGHT | 219 |
NINE | 246 |
TEN | 266 |
ELEVEN | 298 |
TWELVE | 318 |
THIRTEEN | 343 |
IMAGINE AFTER EVERYTHING THIS | 386 |
NOTES | 399 |
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY | 423 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 437 |
| 445 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Air Corps American April attack Balanga barracks Bataan Bataan Death March battle Beecher began Ben Steele beriberi Bilibid bombing called camp Camp O'Donnell Clark Field Colonel column commander comrades Corregidor dark dead death march defense Devore Diary doctors Dyess enemy eyes face feet fight Filipino force front going guards hand head headquarters hohei hold Homma horyo hospital hundred Imperial Army Infantry interview islands Japa Japan Japanese jungle killed Kiyoshi Kinoshita knew Lieutenant Lingayen Gulf looked Luzon MacArthur malaria Manila Bay Mariveles Maru Masaharu Masaharu Homma miles military morning Nara never night O'Donnell officers Old National Road Pacific peninsula Philippine Army Philippines prisoners prisoners of war rice rifle River samurai sergeant ship sick soldiers staff stand started Steele thought stopped Story surrender tanks Tokyo told troops trucks United USAFFE Wainwright waiting walked wanted Ward watched Yamashita yelled