Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission

The 98th Field Artillery Battalion was a WWII unit in the Asia-Pacific theater. In 1944, it was downsized and converted from an artillery unit into an infantry 6th Ranger Battalion.

The Alamo Scots, the US 6th Army Special Reconnaissance Unit, were a World War II reconnaissance group tasked with intelligence gathering in the Asia-Pacific theater.

Army Rangers is a US military designation.

The Bamboo Telegraph was a word-of-mouth communication network between the Philippine villages. It was also used as a messaging system between the Japanese-controlled Allied POW camps and the outside world during World War II.

“Barrio” means “neighborhood” in Spanish. In the given context, it refers to Philippine villages in the countryside.

The Bataan Death March took place in April 1942 after the Americans lost the Battle of Bataan. The Japanese marched close to 78,000 Americans and Filipinos for over 65 miles. Many died due to the elements, starvation, and illnesses, or were killed along the way. The survivors ended up in the Cabanatuan POW camp—the focus of this book.

The Cabanatuan POW camp was a prison camp for Allied (mostly American) and Filipino prisoners of war who participated in the Bataan Death March. It is from this camp that the POWs were rescued, as described in this book.

The Geneva Convention is a series of agreements (1864-1949, 1977) meant to lessen the impact of war on civilians and belligerents. Its relevance to this book is the humane treatment of POWs, specifically the Convention Relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1929), which some of the Japanese forces repeatedly violated, leading to the accusation of war crimes.

A feint is a distracting or deceptive move in sports or warfare to mislead the opponent. In Ghost Soldiers, the Black Widow plane performs feints to distract the Japanese from the imminent rescue mission.

“Kamikaze” refers to Japanese suicide attacks during World War II, especially by pilots.

Kempeitai were the Japanese military police in the occupied Philippines during World War II.

“Makapili” is a term used to describe collaborators that aided the Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines during World War II.

Oryoku Maru was one of the so-called “hell ships” used by the Japanese Navy to transport cargo and passengers, including POWs. The US bombing of the ship in December 1944—not immediately realizing it transported American POWs—led to a large death toll.

The Palawan Massacre took place on December 14, 1944, as the Japanese sought to prevent the rescue of the Allied prisoners of war. The massacre inspired the Cabanatuan POW rescue and other similar missions.