"J.H. "Billy" Williams always had an affinity for animals. So, when he responded to job offer with the East India Company to work with logging elephants his family wasn't surprised, though worried that he had already come back from World War I in one piece, would he be so lucky with India? Not only did he find his calling with the elephants in India, Billy and his elephants became war heroes. At the onset of World War II, Williams formed Elephant Company and was instrumental in defeating the Japanese in Burma and saving refugees, including on his own "Hannibal Trek." Billy Williams became a media sensation during the war, telling reporters that the elephants did more for him than he was ever able to do for them, but his story has since been forgotten. Part biography, part war story, and part wildlife adventure, Croke delivers an utterly charming narrative and an important, little-known piece of the legacy of World War II"-- Billy Williams came to colonial Burma in 1920 to a job as a "forest man" for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence, character, and even humor of the great animals who hauled logs through the remote jungles, he became a gifted "elephant wallah" and championed humane treatment for them. When Imperial Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, the elephants would carry supplies, build bridges, and transport the sick and elderly over treacherous mountain terrain. As the occupying authorities put a price on his head, Williams and his elephants faced perilous tests, earning military honors. Provided by publisher.

Introduction -- The making of an elephant wallah -- Love and elephants -- War elephants -- Epilogue.