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Bataan Diary
by Chris Schaefer
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Riverview Publishing (2004-10)
ISBN: 0976108402
EAN: 9780976108405
Dewy Decimal #: 940.535991092273
Paperback: 434 pages
SKU: E3081029e
Condition: Good None
Comments: Bataan Diary - Trade Paperback - some edgewear - pages clean and unmarked - binding tight and solid - spine uncreased International Shipping avaliable - Please email for rates
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
With Pearl Harbor in shambles, the United States Army surrendered to the Japanese on Bataan, and 70,000 American and Filipino servicemen became prisoners of war. However, about 200 Americans slipped into the jungle to continue the fight and await the return of General Douglas MacArthur. For three years the Japanese hunted these men down, capturing or killing more than half of them. Bataan Diary is the true story of Frank R. Loyd and a small group of men who refused to surrender to the Japanese. They endured terrible diseases, starvation, and a Japanese manhunt to capture them. Aided by Filipino farmers, they lived by their wits and their survival skills, and they ultimately joined the guerrilla band of Corporal John Boone to help defeat the Japanese. It is also the story of their families at home in the United States who supported the war effort, worked in government jobs, and raised their families alone, not knowing if their men were dead or alive. Frank Loyd, kept a personal diary throughout his three year ordeal. His wife, Evelyn, kept her own diary and correspondence at home. Bataan Diary follows the stories of Frank and Evelyn Loyd as a central theme, while telling the intriguing story of the prisoners, the evaders, and the guerrillas—the men and women who fought America’s first battle of World War II.
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Customer Reviews
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Fluidly written, well researched, a story sometimes forgotten that should never be ignored
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-04-30
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Bataan Diary is the true story of Major Frank Loyd and his wife Evelyn. Stationed in Bataan in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II they are separated by the impending Japanese invasion, with Evelyn going home to the United States and Frank staying to fight.
They were separated for almost four years.
Chris Schaefer rebuilt their story from diaries that Frank hid while he was behind enemy lines, Evelyns diaries and letters, interviews and meticulous research. He writes a riveting story of survival, as Frank evades capture, faces malaria, starvation, desperation and dispair, while planning and awaiting General Douglas MacAuthur's eminent return. Evelyn's story is almost as difficult, as she has no news of Frank, not knowing if he is captured, dead or alive.
Schaefer tells their story against the backdrop of the events in the Philippines under Japanese occupation and the larger story of the overall War in the Pacific. Describing the native Filipinos, Japanese atrocities, American bravery and indecision, Schaefer paints neither hero or goat, but lets his research tell the story.
A well put-together, well researched book, who's writing is well paced, Bataan Diary is recommended for those interested in history, war, survival and stories that show what man is capable of.
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Lessons of the Philippines
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-02-02
The Bataan Diary is a sobering remembrance of Filipino-American sacrifice at the entry to World War Two and enduring to the end. No two cultures were ever, more intertwined in dedication to their preservation of Democracy and Freedom.
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Fascinating
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-08-24
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was a really unusual story. I really enjoyed it. I don't usually read history books, but my family said to read it, and I am glad I did.
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Setting the Big Stage
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-08-02
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Chris Schaefer's book is more than the title implies. It is not really a diary afterall. It is a thoughtful and insightful read about many little known areas of the soldiers lives in the Philippines in WWII. The author uses diaries as a basis to tell stories of soldiers and their families during the 3 years of battle, defeat, imprisonment, and resistance under unthinkable conditions. The facts that are presented, in a very narrative friendly manner, give the reader a larger view of the War in the Philippines than focusing on one man and his diary. Mr Schaefer's depth of reaearch material encompasses a very big stage of activity from 1941 through 1945. A timely read if you are interested in the movie "The Great Raid", based on the books "Ghost Soldiers" and "The Great Raid on Cabanatuan" as they are only part of the tale that is told in "Bataan Diary".
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A gripping true story that could make a helluva movie
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-06-24
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
"Bataan Diary" is one of a long line of remarkable stories of courage and survival to come out of World War II. Author Chris Schaefer tells the parallel stories of American officer Frank Loyd, who evaded the enemy for three years in the Japanese occupied Philippines, and his wife Evelyn back in the United States.
Loyd was one of several hundred American and Filipino soldiers who did not surrender to the Japanese in early 1942 when they seized Luzon. Loyd and others held out against all odds, often sabotaging the Japanese occupiers and helping pave the way for America's eventual recapture of the islands.
Loyd not only had to survive the human enemies but diseases as well. Stricken by debilitating illness and without adequate food for long periods, Loyd's perseverance is a stirring testimony to the human spirit.
"Bataan Diary" often reads like a novel (one of those that is difficult to put down) yet the author puts events within context of the war, making his book an important contribution to our understanding of World War II. Lloyd is not the book's only hero. The Filipino's who resisted the Japanese and aided Loyd and others also displayed uncomomn courage.
I would have liked to now more about Loyd and his wife before jumping headlong into the story and there was not enough for me about Evelyn's life on the home front, but those quibbles aside "Bataan Diary" is an excellent book and highly recommended.
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