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Smith, Steven Trent ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
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Smith, Steven Trent The Rescue: A True Story of Courage and Survival in World War II
John Wiley & Sons Inc 2001 0471412910 / 9780471412915 Hardcover Fine Fine Hardcover
New. Fine in publisher's boards in like dust jacket. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide.A television photojournalist who has covered the Iranian hostage crisis, the hunger strikes in Northern Ireland, the shooting of Pope John Paul II, various Olympics and Charles and Diana's wedding, Smith has also won four Emmy awards for producing public service announcements. He breaks into print with a taut tale of a forgotten rescue mission in 1944. When the Philippines fell to the Japanese in May 1942, more than 40 Americans living on the island of Negros abandoned their homes and fled inland. Most were missionaries, Silliman University faculty and their family members, who endured two years of hardship as they moved from place to place in the jungles and mountains, evading Japanese patrols sent to capture them. Protected by sympathetic civilians and watched over by vigilant Filipino resistance fighters, these Americans were finally evacuated in May 1944, as the Allied offensive came closer to the islands. But the evacuation by submarine the U.S.S. Crevalle was only part of the drama. On the last day of March 1944, two Japanese flying boats carrying Adm. Koga Mineichi and his staff crashed in a severe storm. The admiral, in command of the Japanese fleet, had just completed top secret plans to counter the next American offensive; these plans washed up on a beach on neighboring Cebu island and quickly found their way to the American commander of the resistance. When Crevalle evacuated the civilians, the plans went along, with mixed results in influencing the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. Smith evaluates the two admirals and the resulting controversy. (May 18)Forecast: While the subject matter here is certainly intriguing, given Smith's journalistic exploits, one wonders whether a memoir can be far behind this well-reported story. Based on firsthand accounts supplied by surviving refugees and submariners, Smith's account will engross buffs, but won't reach beyond that market.... Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. ... On May 22, 1944, the U.S. submarine Crevalle was instructed to go to the remote Philippine island of Negros to pick up some Americans and Filipinos and take them to Australia. Following Pearl Harbor, navy subs regularly landed spies and saboteurs, as well as ammunition, supplies, and medicines for the guerillas. In 1944, the Crevalle was sent to Negros to pick up 25 people but ended up with 40, including 21 women, 12 children, and seven escaped American POWs. Smith, an Emmy Award-winning freelance television photojournalist with a passion for history, begins his study with a long account of the prewar lives of the missionaries at Stilliman University in Negros, the sugar planters, the Filipino Americans, and the soldiers stationed in Panay and Negros. He describes the Japanese invasion and how the civilians coped with living in the jungle for over two years before their rescue by the Crevalle, which also picked up a crate of important secret Japanese documents taken from a captured Japanese admiral. Smith's account of the long, hellish journey to Australia is eminently worth reading and, though perhaps overlong, is a fascinating book that belongs in every public and academic library. Stanley L. Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, NY Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Price:
4.10 GBP
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