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Believe it or not, I have sort of stayed away from the bataan subject. I suppose mainly because I don't or didn't really want to know the hell he had to endure. The stories and all of the facts I knew were always enough for me. What has spurred interest him lately is the memory of him and going thru his pictures with other family members.

Thank you for mentioning that book that impacted you so much. I will be going out in the next week and look it up in the library. It's time I get to know my grandfather in a way I wasn't to sure about exploring before. Thank you again.

You're most welcome. I experienced something similar to what I imagine you might experience when you read Ghost Soldiers when I read a book about Iwo Jima called Flags of Our Fathers.

I read the book as a Memorial Day weekend project a few years after my father died, and it blew me away. My dad had been a talker - he wasn't really one of those guys who couldn't tell you what Iwo was like, and I knew it was bad - I just didn't know how bad, and the author (whose father was the lone Navy corpsman in the famous Rosenthal flag-raising photograph) described it in vivid detail. I spent the entire weekend crying and needing to put the book down, but not being able to leave it there.

I had always admired my father, but my respect for him and my awe of his personal courage was changed forever when I read that book.

I only wish I could have read it when he was alive.

Please share your impression of Ghost Soldiers with us after you've read it. A lot of Freepers have it, and if you feel like you can talk about it, I know people here would be interested in what you thought of it.

Very nice "meeting" you, by the way. Best of luck.