We Survived War's Crucible

We Survived War's Crucible PDF Author: Donald P. Smith
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1434329682
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
WE SURVIVED WARS CRUCIBLE A true Story of Imprisonment and Rescue In World War II Philippines A large pit is ready for the mass execution of 2,147 prisoners in the Los Baos concentration camp. At dawn, paratroopers of the 11th Airborne drop from the sky. Filipino guerillas overpower Japanese guards. During the night, fifty-four amphibious tractors have crossed the large lake, around Japanese lines. They arrive, and take all the prisoners to safety. It is one of the most perfectly executed rescues of World War II. That is but the climax of the exciting story Stephen Smith tells, of his captivity in the Philippines, with his wife Viola, and teen age son Paul. It begins as he enters Manila Bay on a Coast Guard cutter, while bombs are dropping, and sunken ships are still burning. The family lives under house arrest by the Japanese Army in Manila for two and one half years. With no connections to banks in the U.S., Stephen must find enough money to buy food for 70 fellow missionary prisoners. Daring young Paul, gets a big bang out of celebrating the fourth of July, right in front of his armed Japanese captors. A hardened Japanese veteran of Manchuria, China and Bataan, reveals his hidden humanity. While others are being beheaded in Fort Santiago, a Japanese guard risks his own life to spare the life of a Filipino friend. At risk of his life, Stephen provides an American flag to a Filipipno guerilla for use in signaling American submarines. In all this struggle, how can the Smiths find the physical, emotional and spiritual resources to survive the crucible of war? This book tells how.

We Survived War's Crucible

We Survived War's Crucible PDF Author: Donald P. Smith
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1434329682
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 108

Get Book Here

Book Description
WE SURVIVED WARS CRUCIBLE A true Story of Imprisonment and Rescue In World War II Philippines A large pit is ready for the mass execution of 2,147 prisoners in the Los Baos concentration camp. At dawn, paratroopers of the 11th Airborne drop from the sky. Filipino guerillas overpower Japanese guards. During the night, fifty-four amphibious tractors have crossed the large lake, around Japanese lines. They arrive, and take all the prisoners to safety. It is one of the most perfectly executed rescues of World War II. That is but the climax of the exciting story Stephen Smith tells, of his captivity in the Philippines, with his wife Viola, and teen age son Paul. It begins as he enters Manila Bay on a Coast Guard cutter, while bombs are dropping, and sunken ships are still burning. The family lives under house arrest by the Japanese Army in Manila for two and one half years. With no connections to banks in the U.S., Stephen must find enough money to buy food for 70 fellow missionary prisoners. Daring young Paul, gets a big bang out of celebrating the fourth of July, right in front of his armed Japanese captors. A hardened Japanese veteran of Manchuria, China and Bataan, reveals his hidden humanity. While others are being beheaded in Fort Santiago, a Japanese guard risks his own life to spare the life of a Filipino friend. At risk of his life, Stephen provides an American flag to a Filipipno guerilla for use in signaling American submarines. In all this struggle, how can the Smiths find the physical, emotional and spiritual resources to survive the crucible of war? This book tells how.

Crucible

Crucible PDF Author: Troy Denning
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 0345511425
Category : Leia Organa
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
When Han and Leia Solo arrive at Lando Calrissian's Outer Rim mining operation to help him fend off a hostile takeover, they join forces with Luke Skywalker to confront a dangerous adversary with evil intentions and a vendetta against Han.

Angels of the Underground

Angels of the Underground PDF Author: Theresa Kaminski
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019992824X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
When the Japanese began their brutal occupation of the Philippines in early 1942, 76,000 ill and starving Filipinos and many Americans were left to defend Bataan, Manila, and surrounding islands. During the three violent years of occupation that followed, Allied sympathizers smuggled suppliesand information to guerilla fighters and prisoner camps around the country. Theresa Kaminski's Angels of the Underground tells the story of two such members of this lesser-known resistance movement - American women known only as Miss U and High Pockets. Incredibly adept at skirting occupationauthorities to support the Allied effort, the very nature of their clandestine wartime work meant that the truth behind their dangerous activities had to be obscured as long as the Japanese occupied the Philippines. Were their identities revealed, they would be arrested, tortured, and executed.Throughout the war, Miss U and High Pockets remained hidden behind a veil of deceit and subterfuge.Angels of the Underground offers the compelling tale of two ordinary American women propelled by extraordinary circumstances into acts of heroism. Married to servicemen, Peggy Utinsky and Claire Phillips, the women behind Miss U and High Pockets, hoped that their clandestine efforts would reunitethem with their husbands. Both men died at the hands of the Japanese, but Utinsky and Phillips stayed on through the occupation, working in hospitals, moving supplies, and building their networks. Utinsky narrowly survived a month of torture at Fort Santiago, then joined John Boone's guerilla bandand became a brevet second lieutenant before returning to the Red Cross until the end of the war. Phillips barely escaped execution in 1943, and was sentenced to hard labor in a prison camp, where she remained until February 1945.Angels of the Underground illuminates the complex political dimensions of the occupied Philippines and its importance to the war effort in the Pacific. Kaminski's narrative sheds light on the Japanese-occupied city of Manila; the Bataan Death March and subsequent incarceration of American militaryprisoners in camps O'Donnell and Cabanatuan under horrific conditions; and the formation of guerrilla units in the mountains of Luzon.Angels of the Underground makes a significant contribution to the work on women's wartime experiences. Through the lens of Utinksy and Phillips, who never wavered in their belief that it was their duty as patriotic American women to aid the Allied cause, Kaminksi highlights how women have alwaysbeen active participants in war, whether or not they wear a military uniform. An impressive work of scholarship grounded in archival research and personal interviews, this is also a stunning story of courage and heroism in wartime.

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (Vol. 1) (The Pacific War Trilogy)

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (Vol. 1) (The Pacific War Trilogy) PDF Author: Ian W. Toll
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393083179
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 732

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Book Description
Winner of the Northern California Book Award for Nonfiction "Both a serious work of history…and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative." —San Francisco Chronicle On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible—through a dramatic narrative relying predominantly on primary sources and eyewitness accounts of heroism and sacrifice from both navies—tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history to seize the strategic initiative.

Crucible: Star Wars Legends

Crucible: Star Wars Legends PDF Author: Troy Denning
Publisher: Random House Worlds
ISBN: 0345540891
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and Luke Skywalker return in an all-new Star Wars adventure, which will challenge them in ways they never expected—and forever alter their understanding of life and the Force. When Han and Leia Solo arrive at Lando Calrissian’s Outer Rim mining operation to help him thwart a hostile takeover, their aim is just to even up the odds and lay down the law. Then monstrous aliens arrive with a message, and mere threats escalate into violent sabotage with mass fatalities. When the dust settles, what began as corporate warfare becomes a battle with much higher stakes—and far deadlier consequences. Now Han, Leia, and Luke team up once again in a quest to defeat a dangerous adversary bent on galaxy-wide domination. Only this time, the Empire is not the enemy. It is a pair of ruthless geniuses with a lethal ally and a lifelong vendetta against Han Solo. And when the murderous duo gets the drop on Han, he finds himself outgunned in the fight of his life. To save him, and the galaxy, Luke and Leia must brave a gauntlet of treachery, terrorism, and the untold power of an enigmatic artifact capable of bending space, time, and even the Force itself into an apocalyptic nightmare. Praise for Crucible “[Troy] Denning opens new pathways of adventure and recaptures the feel of the Star Wars universe and its beloved characters.”—Library Journal “Outstanding . . . an adventure that tantalizes the imagination.”—Roqoo Depot “A fun, fast paced take on some of Star Wars’ most iconic characters.”—The Founding Fields

Crucible Vietnam

Crucible Vietnam PDF Author: A.T. Lawrence
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786454709
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This is the personal account of an army infantry platoon leader and commanding officer in the central highlands of Vietnam during 1967 and 1968 when he was 21 years old. These were the two bloodiest years of the war, a time when the U.S. army employed search and destroy missions with high casualty rates. The author provides a historical overview and casualty report of the Vietnam War, 15 information about his military and officer training, and his return to civilian life after Vietnam.

Five Decembers

Five Decembers PDF Author: James Kestrel
Publisher: Titan Books (US, CA)
ISBN: 178909612X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Novel “War, imprisonment, torture, romance…The novel has an almost operatic symmetry, and Kestrel turns a beautiful phrase.” New York Times Five Decembers is a gripping thriller, a staggering portrait of war, and a heartbreaking love story, as unforgettable as All the Light We Cannot See. nominated for Best Novel in the 2022 EDGAR AWARDS NOMINATED FOR BEST THRILLER IN THE 2022 BARRY AWARDS FINALIST FOR THE HAMMETT PRIZE 2021 "Read this book for its palpitating story, its perfect emotional and physical detailing and, most of all, for its unforgettable conjuring of a steamy quicksilver world that will be new to almost every reader." Pico Iyer December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever. Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn't know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor. This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.

Skyborne: Wings of War (Skyborne Series—Book Four)

Skyborne: Wings of War (Skyborne Series—Book Four) PDF Author: Taylor Night
Publisher: Taylor Night
ISBN: 1094397776
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
From fantasy author Taylor Night comes the fourth novel in a thrilling new epic fantasy series, SKYBORNE, ideal for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Holly Black, and Rebecca Yarros. As war breaks out throughout the kingdom, Skyborne becomes a critical battleground. Elyra Mistwood, coming into her own as a seasoned warrior and leader, must confront her complex feelings for Kael while reconciling the forbidden relationship with Caspian. Can she navigate her own emotions while leading her peers in defense of the academy? The SKYBORNE series pulls us into a thrilling new fantasy world teeming with danger and opportunity, where our heroine faces the trials of love and tests of survival. An epic adventure marked by surprising developments and intense anticipation, SKYBORNE is fresh and imaginative and is sure to appeal to young adult readers as well as seasoned fans of fantasy. Future books in the series are also available!

Crucible of War

Crucible of War PDF Author: Fred Anderson
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307425398
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 902

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Book Description
In this engrossing narrative of the great military conflagration of the mid-eighteenth century, Fred Anderson transports us into the maelstrom of international rivalries. With the Seven Years' War, Great Britain decisively eliminated French power north of the Caribbean — and in the process destroyed an American diplomatic system in which Native Americans had long played a central, balancing role — permanently changing the political and cultural landscape of North America. Anderson skillfully reveals the clash of inherited perceptions the war created when it gave thousands of American colonists their first experience of real Englishmen and introduced them to the British cultural and class system. We see colonists who assumed that they were partners in the empire encountering British officers who regarded them as subordinates and who treated them accordingly. This laid the groundwork in shared experience for a common view of the world, of the empire, and of the men who had once been their masters. Thus, Anderson shows, the war taught George Washington and other provincials profound emotional lessons, as well as giving them practical instruction in how to be soldiers. Depicting the subsequent British efforts to reform the empire and American resistance — the riots of the Stamp Act crisis and the nearly simultaneous pan-Indian insurrection called Pontiac's Rebellion — as postwar developments rather than as an anticipation of the national independence that no one knew lay ahead (or even desired), Anderson re-creates the perspectives through which contemporaries saw events unfold while they tried to preserve imperial relationships. Interweaving stories of kings and imperial officers with those of Indians, traders, and the diverse colonial peoples, Anderson brings alive a chapter of our history that was shaped as much by individual choices and actions as by social, economic, and political forces.

War Paint

War Paint PDF Author: Bill Goshen
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307417670
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The men who served with in the 1st Infantry Division with F company, 52nd Infantry, (LRP) later redesignated as Company I, 75th Infantry (Ranger) --engaged in some of the fiercest, bloodiest fighting during the Vietnam War, suffering a greater relative aggregate of casualties that any other LRRP/LRP/ Ranger company. Their base was Lai Khe, within hailing distance of the Vietcong central headquarters, a mile inside Cambodia, with its vast stockpiles of weapons and thousands of transient VC and NVA soldiers. Recondo-qualified Bill Goshen was there, and has written the first account of these battle-hardened soldiers. As the eyes and ears of the Big Red One, the 1st Infantry, these hunter/killer teams of only six men instered deep inside enemy territory had to survive by their wits, or suffer the deadly consequences. Goshen himself barely escaped with his life in a virtual suicide mission that destroyed half his team. His gripping narrative recaptures the raw courage and sacrifice of American soldiers fighting a savage war of survival: men of all colors, from all walks of life, warriors bonded by triumph and tragedy, by life and death. They served proudly in Vietnam, and their stories need to be told.