Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival — Back From the Living Dead

On January 30, 1945, one of the most daring rescue missions of World War II took place in the Philippines. Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 6th Ranger Infantry Battalion, along with Filipino guerrilla forces, carried out a nighttime raid deep behind enemy lines to liberate hundreds of American prisoners of war held by Japanese forces.

These prisoners had already endured nearly three years of brutal captivity. After surviving the horrors of the Bataan Death March and years of starvation, disease, forced labor, and torture in Japanese prison camps, many of the men were physically broken and close to death.

The rescue of the prisoners from the Cabanatuan prison camp became one of the most extraordinary prisoner-of-war liberation missions in American military history.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival tells the story of these men—the suffering they endured, the courage that kept them alive, and the dramatic mission that brought them back from what many believed was certain death.

Through historical accounts and survivor testimony, this book examines:

• The capture of American soldiers in the Pacific theater
• The brutal conditions inside Japanese prisoner-of-war camps
• The suffering endured during forced marches and imprisonment
• The planning and execution of the Cabanatuan rescue mission
• The courage and resilience of the prisoners who survived

This account highlights one of the most remarkable acts of courage and rescue in World War II, preserving the memory of the men who endured captivity and the soldiers who risked their lives to bring them home.