Posted on 09/29/2007 5:15:31 PM PDT by I still care
A Tremendous Movie. It's been edited to remove the R rating, but you don't have to see all the blood to be shown what our men went through.
From director John Dahl comes the stirring true story of one of the most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: "the great raid on Cabanatuan," the daring exploit that would liberate more than 500 U.S. Prisoners of War in the face of overwhelming odds. A gripping depiction of human resilience, the film vividly brings to life the personal courage and audacious heroism that allowed a small but stoic band of World War II soldiers to attempt the impossible in the hopes of freeing their captured brothers.
Once a tale shared across the United States, the long-lost story of THE GREAT RAID has been recreated with meticulous authenticity to pay testimony to the many different people, from U.S. commanders to Filipino soldiers to women aid workers to the POWs themselves, who played a part in turning this time of intense hardship and unrelenting danger into a moment of inspiration.
I think it will be shown again tomorrow night.
It just started at 8, so you can still get a good piece.
My uncle went through the Bataan Death March, and wrote a memoir about it. He was very excited about this movie. He said it pretty much showed what they went through.
He was not rescued in the raid. He was shipped to Japan and only released with the atomic bomb explosions. But I’ve seen the movie, and it’s wonderful.
Watching now
This was a terrific movie. Connie Nielson was outstanding in her role, as was Benjamin Bratt.
This is a magnificent movie. Everyone should see it. I bought it so that my daughter could see what true courage and nobility are.
When I went to see it, the entire audience sat in respectful silence all the way through the end credits, which showed black-and-white stills of American soldiers. My father, a combat photographer/cinematographer in the Philippines, took some of those pictures.
Major awesome American Patriot movie! Saw it in the theatre.
Please convey my thanks to your uncle for his service and sacrifice.
Yes, it is being shown tomorrow at 8 p.m. and we’ll be watching. Thanks for letting us know!
Thanks, I will.
I found this article on him:
They split us up into groups of about 300,” Hamilton said. “We were then ordered to march.”
The men were to march from Mariveles to San Fernando, a 100-kilometer (62 miles) walk, then another 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to Camp O’Donnell. But the Japanese had made no provisions for food or water. So, the already sick and half-starved men grew steadily weaker.
“The only food I had for eight days was a ball of rice the size of a golf ball,” Hamilton said. “But lack of food was the least of our problems.”
The men were dying of thirst. They desperately searched for water along the way, and many would drink anything, no matter how dirty.
Clarence Larson, a Bataan survivor, recalled the scene in his book, “A Long March Home:” “One of our stops was at a bridge. ... The water you couldn’t even see because there was a green scum covering it. Some of the guys jumped in ... and started to fill their canteens. I did not, as there was a dead soldier, perhaps several, that had been in the water a couple of days, and in 100-degree sunshine you could imagine the smell.”
For many, this drink became their last.
“It became a game for the Japanese,” Hamilton said. “They would lower their bayonets and run for anyone trying to drink. Either you were bayoneted or shot.”
Those who escaped a quick death were in for a slower torture. The contaminated water caused severe diarrhea and vomiting. And if you fell out?
“You were dead,” Hamilton said. “It was miserable. I was so tired I felt like I couldn’t take another step. But then I would hear someone being shot. It was like the Angel of Death was right behind me.”
Hamilton kept going, but many weren’t able. Fifteen thousand soldiers died or were murdered on the 65-mile march to prison camps. And more than 26,000 others would die in the next two months at the camps.
“I was determined to survive,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t make it through that march to die in a prison camp.”
Before his nightmare was over, Hamilton would withstand more than three years of torture, beatings, forced labor and near starvation at Japanese prison camps.
And then, one day, just as quickly as they came, the Japanese left.
“They just tiptoed out,” Hamilton said. “There we were, 1,800 of us. We heard there were Americans on the tip of the island so we stole a train and went there.
“The first thing I did was call my mom,” he added. “I told her I was alive and on my way home. It was an amazingly happy day for me.”
Hamilton made it home in October 1945. His body was ridden with disease — beriberi, dysentery and scurvy — and his doctor’s prognosis was grim. But in time, he recovered both physically and mentally. He married his childhood sweetheart, had five children and continued his service in the military. He was a cook in the Air Force, retiring as a chief warrant officer after 29 years of service.
Ghost Soldiers is one of the best WWII books I’ve ever read. I highly recommend it. Hard to read that book or watch this movie and not come away hating the Japs (at least the WWII variety).
Was it really that good? I heard mixed reviews even from conservative reviewers that it was too nonfactual and too PC.
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