Return from the River Kwai
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. Book Club Edition. Hardcover. 318, [2] pages. Illus., endpaper maps, source notes, index, DJ somewhat soiled and has tear. Return From the River Kwai tells the harrowing tale of about 2200 of those soldiers who were selected because they were healthier than the others to be sent to Japan for work in the factories there. While en route the ships they sailed on, the Kachidoki Maru and Rakuyo Maru, were torpedoed and sunk by American submarines who weren't aware that they carried human cargo. The men who survived spent as much as a week floating in the ocean before being rescued by those same submarines. This book tells the firsthand accounts of their experiences and the hardships they endured, from the terrible conditions in POW camps and the difficulties of staying afloat and sane in a vast ocean, to the joys of being rescued and returned to society. The Blairs have done a terrific job of putting together the individual accounts and historical documents that form one of the extraordinary stories of surviving the brutal conditions of war. Unpleasant details are not left out either, although they are told with a sense of dignity. Intertwined with the record of the survivors is the story told by the men on the submarines, who played such an important role in rescuing the stranded men. More