"A thrilling account of the most daring American POW rescue mission of World War II. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America entered World War II, and a new theater of battle opened up in the Pacific. But US troops, along with thousands of Filipino soldiers who fought alongside them, were overtaken in the Philippines by a fiercely determined Japanese navy, and many Americans and Filipino fighters were killed or captured.These American and Filipino prisoners of war were forced to endure the most horrific conditions on the deadly trek known as the Bataan Death March. Then, the American servicemen who were held captive by the Japanese military in Cabanatuan Camp and others in the Philippines, faced beatings, starvation, and tropical diseases, and lived constantly under the threat of death.Unable to forget their comrades' fate and concerned that these POWs would be brutally murdered as the tides of war shifted in the Pacific, the US Army Rangers undertook one of the most daring and dangerous rescue missions of all time. Aided by the "Angels of the Underground," the Sixth Ranger Battalion and courageous Filipino guerrilla soldiers set out on an uncertain and treacherous assignment. Often called the Great Raid, this remarkable story remains largely forgotten.Sibert Honor author Deborah Hopkinson presents an extraordinary and unflinching look at the heroic servicemen and women who courageously weathered the worst of circumstances and conditions in service to their country, as well as those who answered the call to save their fellow soldiers"-- Provided by publisher.

Part 1: From shock to surrender, December 1941-Spring 1942. The first days: Horror an destruction -- Retreat! Get out! -- Staying alive on Bataan -- Corregidor: In the tunnel -- Surrender: First Bataan, Then Corregidor -- Part 2: Endurance and resistance, Spring 1942-Fall 1944. The Bataan death march -- Camp O'Donnell: Death at the end of the march -- From Camp O'Donnell to Cabanatuan -- Cabanatuan: Rats, rice, and lice -- Ralph and Pilar: Bilibid to Cabanatuan -- Part 3: Race against death, Fall 1944-Winter 1945. Fall 1944: New hopes, new fears -- POWs in danger -- In camp: Last days -- The rescuers: Making the case -- The rescuers: A daring plan -- The rescuers: All systems go! -- In camp: Just before dark -- The road back -- The real heroes -- Epilogue: Our small white crosses.