U.S. Navy Supply Corps Ensign Ross Hofmann had no idea what was in store for him when he arrived at Cavite Naval Base in October 1941. Two months later, Japanese forces struck the Philippines, destroying the base and forcing U.S. personnel to retreat to Bataan. There, Hofmann joined a makeshift unit of Army Aircorps ground personnel, U.S. Marines, U.S. sailors, U.S. Naval ground battalions and Filipinos to fight a Japanese force that landed nearby. In March 1942, with the fall of Bataan imminent, he traveled to Cebu to run supplies through the blockade of Bataan and Corregidor. Soon after his arrival, the Japanese landed on Cebu, forcing the Americans to retreat again. Hiking through jungles and crossing dangerous waters in barely seaworthy vessels, Hofmann avoided capture and reached an American base in Mindanao. He received orders to establish a seaplane base on Lake Lanao. As Japanese troops landed nearby, two seaplanes returning from Corregidor stopped to refuel, one of them hitting a submerged rock on take-off. In a harrowing race against the enemy advance, Hofmann and others worked feverishly to fix the plane and escape before the Japanese converged on Lake Lanao. This memoir recounts Hofmanns experiences in vivid detail. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may
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"U.S. Navy Supply Corps Ensign Ross Hofmann arrived at Cavite Naval Base in October 1941. In March 1942, he traveled to Cebu, then received orders to establish a seaplane base on Lake Lanao. In a race against enemy advance, Hofmann and others worked feverishly to fix a damaged plane and escape before the Japanese converged on Lake Lanao"--
Hoffman prepared his memoir from notes he jotted down immediately after Corregidor surrendered and he had escaped to Australia. He offers a personal description of the debacle that took place in the defense of the Philippines as seen through the eyes of a young naval officer who was there. There are other accounts of the American fleet engaging vastly superior Japanese forces and being sunk one by one, he says. In contrast, he describes what happened to the rest of the fleet, the shore people who were left behind when the ships sailed off to fight at Java--dry-land sailors, most of them survivors of the Japanese obliteration of the Cavite Navy Yard, who had to retreat to Bataan with the army and Marines. Annotation ©2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
