Bruce
Henderson has written a gripping detailed account, Rescue
At Los Banos. It details how the American military daringly
raided the camp rescuing over two thousand civilian prisoners,
many of whom were from the United States. In February 1945,
the 11th Airborne risked their lives to save the civilians
that included men, women, and children captured by the Japanese
in the Philippines.
The plot explains the atrocities from the victim's point of
view. The guards' brutal behavior towards the prisoners was
directed by the merciless and cruel camp commandant, Sadaaki
Konishi. Meager food rations were reduced to the point of
starvation, even though there was plenty of food available,
since the camp itself was located in an area of great agricultural
productivity. As the Japanese began losing the war, the mistreatment
of the prisoners grew proportionally. In fact, many of the
internees after the rescue looked like Holocaust victims,
meager skeletons.
Henderson commented, "Many of the abuses of the Japanese
guards and camp commanders are systemic. They were raised
in a very strict militaristic society. Konishi was basically
a sadistic person who had a deep hatred for Westerners. It
was if he made it his personal crusade to mistreat the civilians.
He was known for saying to the prisoners, 'You will be eating
dirt before I am done with you.'"
After General Douglas MacArthur became aware of the camp conditions,
he assigned the 11th Airborne Division a dangerous rescue
mission of going deep behind enemy lines. It was a deadly
race against the clock, since many feared that the ditches
the Japanese were digging would be used to bury the prisoners
alive. The author noted, "This assignment from MacArthur
required the coordination of a three-pronged attack of deploying
troops by air, land, and sea. It had to be carried out in
darkness, with a Japanese infantry division, ten thousand
strong, lurking just down the road. The odds against success
were steep and the risks were enormous, but the young American
paratroopers and Filipino guerrillas responded with unparalleled
courage in their heroic efforts to save the prisoners. The
rescue was run like clockwork. It was as if Murphy's Law was
suspended for twenty-four hours. Everything came together
with the key being the actionable intelligence gained."
Besides giving a detailed account of the mission, the author
uses personal interviews, diaries, correspondence, memoirs,
and archival research to explain the prisoner's life and attitude
at the camp: their selflessness with regard to other prisoners,
and the courage displayed in overcoming hardship, deprivation,
and cruelty. Henderson thinks the stories of heroism should
be highlighted, since it is important to understand "how
people react in the face of danger and adversity. How they
are able to persevere with self courage and sacrifice."
In the book, Rescue At Los Banos, Bruce Henderson is
able to bring to the forefront one of the most daring raids
in military history. It is a must read because it shows how
good succeeded over evil.
|