Last Man Out: Surviving the Burma Railroad

Marlborough: Crowood Press, 1989. First UK edition. Hardcover. Fair/Good. The author was serving as a marine aboard the USS Houston when it was sunk by the Japanese in May, 1942. Taken prisoner, he was held for the next forty-three months in slave labour camps in Burma, Thailand and Saigon. This is the vivid account of his ordeal - and that of thousands of other Alllied POWs - under barbaric conditions. Above all, it is the story of an unsung hero, Dr Henri Hekking, a medic with the Dutch Colonial Army, who at great personal risk, saved the lives of hundreds of prisoners (including that of the author) through his knowledge of wild jungle herbs and their medical applications. Originally published in the US in 1988, this is the First UK Edition. Contains 209 pages, 23 x 15cm, 18 pages of b&w photos and 1 map. Ex-library, front endpaper removed, some library markings. Internally, fair-to-good: slight age-related yellowing, but mostly clean and unmarked in sound bindings.