Get Your Hands On Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account Of The Bataan Death March And The Men Who Lived Through It Originated By Manny Lawton Available Through Document

hard to read yet hard to put down, I wish every American would read this book to get a full understanding and appreciation of what those who served in World War II sacrificed for our freedoms today.
Good,solid read, but not superb, It is incredible what humans are capable of doing to others, and what we are capable of persevering.
We should all read some accounts of what happened during this time so we don't forget, This is a good one, That said, it doesn't capture the brutality and terror with quite the same vividness and urgency as Laura Hildenbrand's sitelinkUnbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
And while the basic story is really good, I felt like their were parts that were extraneous, When I read the part about my grandfather Warrant Officer Martin "Gus" Binder, as told by author Manny Lawton and Sergeant Philip Brodsky I felt my grandfather roll over in his grave.
First, if Brodsky had a broken hand, it wouldn't have been from hitting another prisoner for stealing his rice.
The prisoners ate the rice the split second they got it, Brodsky made my grandfather seem like a blithering coward, and made himself seem like he was never in fear.
First, the author should at least do enough research to see that my grandfather's name is not Charles Bender! He survivedmonths as a Japanese POW, the Death March of Bataan after being captured from the USS Pigeon and many months in Cabanatuan Camps, only to be on the Arisan Maru and

survive with anotherormen out of.
My grandfather never spoke a bad word about the Japanese even though he had a right to hate them.
He had a distinguished Naval career ofyears, and never had anything but great things to say about his fellow captives.
He enjoyed life and was thankful for it until his death in, Shame on this portrayalstars. Another story written by a man who went through/years of hell, I can't believe and/or fathom how these men survived, This is not a book for the faint of heart, It's a story of human depravity, barbarous cruelty, and desperate measures to stay alive, But because of its excellent writing, riveting stories and astonishing acts of kindness, Some Survived is one of my favorite WWII books.
I cried more than once while reading this book for those who lived through this truly horrific experience, for those who endured the atrocities for as long as possible and died during their captivity, for the families and friends who had no idea what was happening to their loved ones who were POW's, and I cried because it truly humbles me and awes me as to the strength of the human mind and spirit and what can be endured.
It makes me feel like a sissy as I go through my own trials it inspires me to try harder to cheerfully endure.
The great majority of the men who survived prison camps had a strong faith in God they never stopped believing, and never stopped encouraging and supporting their fellowmen.
As an appendix, there are copies of the paperwork regarding the trials of the Japanese war criminals, which I found very interesting.
Manny Lawton did a remarkable job of remembering names and giving credit to all those he knew and came in contact with.
A moving account. A favorite passage from the book and I'm sorry if it is a tiny spoiler:

"That night sometime between Jan.
and Mar.Captain Henry D. Leitner, my closest friend, passed away, His death was more than another sadness for me, It shocked and stunned and left me feeling alone and abandoned, I had become so accustomed to seeing men die by bullet, bomb, by disease, starvation and exposure, thousands of them in every cruel way that I thought I was hardened against sentiment, emotion and tears.
But now I buried my face in my blanket and wept,
Something went out of me that day with Henry's death something of the poetic beauty of thought and feeling, of kindness and consideration and understanding which comes with true friendship.
But he left me with memories of occasional laughter and of helping each other through tough times, of sharing what was scarce and of looking ahead to the future with hope.
Most important, his death broke away the defensive shell which I had built around my mind and heart to steel me against the hurt of tragedy.
In the midst of my sorrow I felt solace in the rediscovered ability to shed tears and to mourn the loss of a friend.
Whatever else might happen, I was surviving as a human being, " This one is not for the faint of heart, A friend of my parent's survived the Bataan death march which prompted me to read this account, I have read many books about WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam and this is one of the most gut wrenching, sordid, and inhumane of the lot.
It is unfathomable that anyone survived the brutality of the Bataan march but this story needed to be told.
It is a testament to the toughness, strength, character, and will of those men of the greatest generation.
The only reason I gave this four is for the graphic nature of the story itself, It is not a reflection of the writer, My grandfather survived the death march and I found it fascinating to read about, Unbelievable that this torture really happened, An amazing first person narrative, by Manny Lawton, that brought the horrors of the Bataan Death March alive and that was only the beginning.
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FOUR STARS. One of my high school teachers went through the Bataan "Death March" and was in a Japanese prisoner of war camp and we often asked him about his experiences.
He was honored on the television show, "This is Your Life" and I was curious to know if he was mentioned in this book.
The experience of this author and others that he relates is beyond horrific, He tells of the beatings and deprivations with studied, quiet heroism and we see how the survivors retain their humanity through it all.
Great book with a very detailed experience of what Manny Lawton went through during the Death March,Hell Ships and his time in O'Donnell and Cabantuan, among other POW camps.
The horrors and hardships these men endured is difficult to comprehend, even after reading accounts like this, But it leaves little question that fighting that war was necessary, It is really hard to believe how inhumanely American soldiers were treated by the Japanese! Well written and hard to put down while at the same time you really don't want to know any more.
. . We have no idea how much we owe our military! I would highly recommend this book to anyone, history buff or not.
This book held me in thrall of the bravery and determination of American soldiers under the very worst of conditions and proves that the will to live is the strongest of all senses.
Written by a survivor of the Bataan Death March who then became a slave laborer in Japan and Korea until the end of the war, this eyewitness account of the horrors is not easy to read.
The inhumanity of what the author and his compatriots suffered and lived through is almost beyond belief, . many died, many went insane but many held on to the hope that they would be freed one day.
With no communications to the outside world, they were unaware of what was happening militarily but never gave up believing that the Allies would win.


The author relates stories of many of the men, some who lived and some who died, . so this isn't exactly a biography of one man but of many, It is not for the faint of heart as much of the information is extremely graphic though not egregious.
I would recommend this book to the WWII buff, This was a long, difficult read, Manny was the only true constant because of his survival after,long years as a POW, I dont remember the exact number but somewhere aroundof the members of the original Death March passed by the time the war ended.
Examples of bravery and cowardice, of survival and death, kindness and cruelty were on page after page, I wont go into detail but of all of the deaths that were reported in this telling, the most gruesome came towards the very end, a mere couple of months before their liberation a man perished from wet beriberi.
I hope to someday forget the passage and so I will not recount it here, Im not sure when this was published but my only true complaints was the using of quotes for certain dialogue.
When it was the Japanese speaking, all words with Ls were changed to Rs, For example “anyone who doesnt admit to this wirr be punished, ” Wirr in place of will, The other was the use of the word negro/negroes, Both seem pretty shocking to be in a book that I thought was published in thes ors but I could be wrong on the publication date.
And perhaps the changes made to the Japanese quotes are related to the extreme torture he received at the hands of many, so many, Japanese military men.


Regardless of these two issues, it wasa worthwhile read, Great book! Yet another wonderful personal account of the Death March and the struggles that followed, It's amazing how much one person can go through, Manny Lawton was a twentythreeyearold Army captain on April,, when orders came to surrender to the Japanese forces invading the Philippine Islands.
The next day, he and his fellow American and Filipino prisoners set out on the infamous Bataan Death Marcha forced sixday, sixtymile trek under a broiling tropical sun during which approximately eleven thousand men died or were bayoneted, clubbed, or shot to death by the Japanese.
Yet terrible as the Death March was, for Manny Lawton and his comrades it was only the beginning.
When the war ended in August, it is estimated that somepercent of the American troops who had surrendered on Bataan had perished.


But this is not a chronicle of despair, It is, instead, the story of how men can suffer even the most desperate conditions and, in their will to retain their humanity, triumph over appalling adversity.
An epic of quiet heroism, Some Survived is a harrowing, poignant, and inspiring tale that lifts the heart.
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