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Biography & Autobiography. History. Military. Nonfiction. HTML:�??[A] truly uplifting tale of deliverance from certain death . . . A deeply personal read, in which the reader is drawn into the highs and lows of the action, the tragedy, and the salvation, because Moore has so successfully drawn out the characters. . . . Compelling reading and hard to put down.�?��??Naval History The heroic story of eleven American POWs who defied certain death in World War II, As Good as Dead is an unforgettable account of the Palawan Massacre survivors and their daring escape. In late 1944, the Allies invaded the Japanese-held Philippines, and soon the end of the Pacific War was within reach. But for the last 150 American prisoners of war still held on the island of Palawan, there would be no salvation. After years of slave labor, starvation, disease, and torture, their worst fears were about to be realized. On December 14, with machine guns trained on them, they were herded underground into shallow air raid shelters�??death pits dug with their own hands. Japanese soldiers doused the shelters with gasoline and set them on fire. Some thirty prisoners managed to bolt from the fiery carnage, running a lethal gauntlet of machine gun fire and bayonets to jump from the cliffs to the rocky Palawan coast. By the next morning, only eleven men were left alive�??but their desperate journey to freedom had just begun. As Good as Dead is one of the greatest escape stories of World War II, and one that few Americans know. The eleven survivors of the Palawan Massacre�??some badly wounded and burned�??spent weeks evading Japanese patrols. They scrounged for food and water, swam shark-infested bays, and wandered through treacherous jungle terrain, hoping to find friendly Filipino guerrillas. Their endurance, determination, and courage in the face of death make this a gripping and inspir… (more)
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The American prisoners struggled as they endured a series of increasingly harsh base commanders and sadistic guards. They survived impossibly harsh working conditions and a grossly inadequate diet, which included “whistle-weed” soup and whatever scraps their Japanese guards would leave them. The story peaks in 1944 when it is clear Japan would lose the war and the order is given to exterminate the remaining prisoners by any means necessary including machine-gunning and burning alive in hand-dug air raid shelters after being doused with gasoline.
That anyone survived the Palawan Massacre is amazing. That these eleven survived the slaughter and then, with the help of Pilipino gruella fighters, eluded their Japanese hunters is the stuff of legend. Stephen L. Moore lays out the gruesome facts in splendid detail wrapped in an engaging narrative. A good read and an absolute must for any serious student of WWII. Three and a half stars for “As Good As Dead.”