Post by VeeVee on Aug 9, 2007 5:55:58 GMT -5
This book tells of Maj. Gause's escape from Corregidor with Filipino Lt. Alberto Arranzaso. Arranzaso was a member of PMA's pioneer class of 1940. Arranzaso was wounded by a strafing Japanese plane while they floated/swam away from Corregidor. Knowing he was a dead weight to Maj. Gause, he gave him his money, said something like "my game's up" and plunged underwater, sacrificing himself so Maj. Gause could get away.
Arrazaso is in the roster here:
pinoyhistory.proboards22.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1168353642
cgi.ebay.com/WWII-Bataan-Death-March-Escape-Army-Pilot-Eyewitness_W0QQitemZ230159225944
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www.amazon.com/Journal-Major-Damon-Rocky-Gause/dp/0786884215
Editorial Review from Amazon.com
From Publishers Weekly
This newly discovered memoir relates one WWII soldier's extraordinary escape from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and the fortress of Corregidor as he made his way through jungles and villages and then across the Pacific in a leaky boat. A pilot, Gause was stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese launched their attack on the American-controlled islands just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Retreating with the American forces to the peninsula of Bataan, he was captured as that area fell to the overwhelming forces of the Japanese. He made an amazing escape from a prison camp to the American fortress of Corregidor, off the coast of the Philippines, and then, when that bastion fell, escaped again; with another American officer, he managed to reach Australia in an old motorboat. They were helped by a beautiful Filipino woman, residents of a leper colony and the isolated inhabitants of various islands on which they landed. The author's repeated references to "japs" and "nips" and his description of the Japanese conquerors as "victory-crazed sadistic devils" may offend readers of a more ethnically sensitive era, but despite these lapses and his merely workmanlike prose, the drama of the events described will hold readers' attention. Gause died in a plane crash in the European theater later during the war. His long-buried journal, found in his foot locker by his son, offers a real-life adventure for fans of The Thin Red Line. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Among all the war stories of World War II, this memoir stands apart as a remarkable true story of a great escape and a miraculous sea voyage. Maj. Rocky Gause, an American pilot in the Philippines, was trapped on the Bataan Peninsula as the Japanese invaded in 1941; when U.S. and Filipino forces surrendered in spring 1942, he escaped from the Bataan Death March and began a 159-day odyssey of survival that ultimately took him from Corregidor to Australia. Accompanied by another American soldier, Capt. William Osborne, Gause sailed a leaky, 20' wooden motorboat across 3200 miles of treacherous waters, dodging Japanese warships, aircraft, submarines, and coastal patrols. Using a hand compass and an old National Geographic map of Oceania, Gause and Osborne navigated all the way to Australia and safety. Rich in detail, suspense, and drama, this memoir was written a year after Gause's escape using notes and a journal he kept during the journey. Gause died in a plane crash in 1944, but his son has resurrected and published this inspiring and exciting tale of human courage and endurance. Recommended for all public libraries.ACol. William D. Bushnell, USMC (ret.), Brunswick, ME
Arrazaso is in the roster here:
pinoyhistory.proboards22.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1168353642
cgi.ebay.com/WWII-Bataan-Death-March-Escape-Army-Pilot-Eyewitness_W0QQitemZ230159225944
---------------------
www.amazon.com/Journal-Major-Damon-Rocky-Gause/dp/0786884215
Editorial Review from Amazon.com
From Publishers Weekly
This newly discovered memoir relates one WWII soldier's extraordinary escape from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and the fortress of Corregidor as he made his way through jungles and villages and then across the Pacific in a leaky boat. A pilot, Gause was stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese launched their attack on the American-controlled islands just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Retreating with the American forces to the peninsula of Bataan, he was captured as that area fell to the overwhelming forces of the Japanese. He made an amazing escape from a prison camp to the American fortress of Corregidor, off the coast of the Philippines, and then, when that bastion fell, escaped again; with another American officer, he managed to reach Australia in an old motorboat. They were helped by a beautiful Filipino woman, residents of a leper colony and the isolated inhabitants of various islands on which they landed. The author's repeated references to "japs" and "nips" and his description of the Japanese conquerors as "victory-crazed sadistic devils" may offend readers of a more ethnically sensitive era, but despite these lapses and his merely workmanlike prose, the drama of the events described will hold readers' attention. Gause died in a plane crash in the European theater later during the war. His long-buried journal, found in his foot locker by his son, offers a real-life adventure for fans of The Thin Red Line. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Among all the war stories of World War II, this memoir stands apart as a remarkable true story of a great escape and a miraculous sea voyage. Maj. Rocky Gause, an American pilot in the Philippines, was trapped on the Bataan Peninsula as the Japanese invaded in 1941; when U.S. and Filipino forces surrendered in spring 1942, he escaped from the Bataan Death March and began a 159-day odyssey of survival that ultimately took him from Corregidor to Australia. Accompanied by another American soldier, Capt. William Osborne, Gause sailed a leaky, 20' wooden motorboat across 3200 miles of treacherous waters, dodging Japanese warships, aircraft, submarines, and coastal patrols. Using a hand compass and an old National Geographic map of Oceania, Gause and Osborne navigated all the way to Australia and safety. Rich in detail, suspense, and drama, this memoir was written a year after Gause's escape using notes and a journal he kept during the journey. Gause died in a plane crash in 1944, but his son has resurrected and published this inspiring and exciting tale of human courage and endurance. Recommended for all public libraries.ACol. William D. Bushnell, USMC (ret.), Brunswick, ME