He was so fast, that’s all you’d see-a streak of ginger flying by. A state track star back home in Alabama, Billy was called “the Ginger Streak” by everyone on account of his red hair. I wonder if his mama would recognize him with this much meat on his bones and without his freckles, which didn’t fade so much as the rest of his skin just finally caught up. His shirt hangs from his shoulders, but at least he ain’t the string bean he used to be. “Dang, we even wearin’ the same uniform?” He looks down at himself.
Even in my peripheral vision I can tell Billy’s snickering.
Not the same Jimmy “Propper” Propfield at all. Raise my fingers to my brow in a perfect salute. I tuck my tie into my shirt between the second and third buttons and straighten up tall. The eighteen-year-old preacher’s kid from Mobile, Alabama, is gone.Ī soldier of the Thirty-First Infantry stands in his place. And even though I’m only a private, I got a fresh haircut and fifteen dollars left in my pocket after picking up my uniforms from the Chinese tailor, who was worth every penny. I’ve filled out in the six months since we arrived as raw recruits. I admire the new cut of my khakis in the latrine mirror, flexing just enough to test the stretch of the shirt across my shoulder blades. Inspired by true stories, The Long March Home is a gripping coming-of-age tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the power of unrelenting hope. But the ordeal is only the beginning of their nearly four-year fight to survive. With no hope of rescue, the three friends vow to make it back home together. What follows will become known as one of the worst atrocities in modern warfare: the Bataan Death March. Within hours, the teenage friends are plunged into war as enemy warplanes attack Luzon, beginning a battle for control of the Pacific Theater that will culminate with a last stand on the Bataan Peninsula and end with the largest surrender of American troops in history. Life in the Philippines seems like paradise–until the morning of December 8, 1941, when news comes from Manila: Imperial Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor. Jimmy Propfield joined the army for two reasons: to get out of Mobile, Alabama, with his best friends Hank and Billy and to forget his high school sweetheart, Claire.
“ tour de force.”– Publishers Weekly starred review
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