And Somebody Gives a Damn

9780962716423

0962716421

AND SOMEBODY GIVES A DAMN! by Captain Ashton is a collection of eye-witness accounts of events before & after the Fall of Bataan & Corregidor. The author relates his own experiences as a medical officer & Adjutant of the 12th Medical Regiment, Philippine Scouts & edits the contributions of a host of other people who describe the many bizarre & colorful events which occurred. Among them, a doctor who practiced medicine in Manila before the war. The unique situation of the nurses on Bataan is described by three of the "Angels". One (the Chief Nurse) tells about the hospitals in Manila & Hospital #1 & #2 on Bataan, another tells her experiences & escapes from Corregidor by submarine, & a poignant story is told of the final days before the Fall of Bataan. Other doctors describe the field hospitals set up in the jungle & the chaos encountered when a hospital equipped to care for 1000 patients explodes to 13,000 with a shortage of everything. The hazardous escapes from Corregidor to Australia & the Hell Ships are depicted as well as British & Dutch prisoners with cholera, complicated by beri beri. The brutality of Japanese reprisal camps is offset by the humor of Diving as Guest of the Emperor. Perusal of the Table of Contents reveals the wide variety of never-before-told incidents witnessed by these authors & the editor.