Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission

On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops moved behind enemy lines in the Philippines with a dangerous objective: to travel thirty miles and rescue 513 prisoners of war held in a camp, including survivors of the Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines raised the stakes and compressed the planning timeline for this complex operation. Hampton Sides reconstructs this rescue mission in minute-by-minute detail, interwoven with accounts of the prisoners' experiences in the camp. The book documents how the PO Ws survived together despite starvation, tropical diseases, and torture, while resisting their captors. Sides presents the raid as both a military operation and a human story of endurance and sacrifice under extreme conditions.