Audiobook13 hours
Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island
Written by Bill Sloan
Narrated by David Cochran Heath
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
On December 8, 1941, just five hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes attacked a remote US outpost in the westernmost reaches of the Pacific. It was the beginning of an incredible sixteen-day fight for Wake Island, a tiny but strategically valuable dot in the ocean. Unprepared for the stunning assault, the small battalion was dangerously outnumbered and outgunned. But they compensated with a surplus of bravery and perseverance, waging an extraordinary battle against all odds.
When it was over, a few hundred American Marines, sailors, and soldiers, along with a small army of heroic civilian laborers, had repulsed enemy forces several thousand strong-but it was still not enough. Among the Marines was twenty-year-old PFC Wiley Sloman. By Christmas Day, he lay semiconscious in the sand, struck by enemy fire. Another day would pass before he was found-stripped of his rifle and his uniform. Shocked to realize he hadn't awakened to victory, Sloman wondered: Had he been given up for dead-and had the Marines simply given up?
In this riveting account, veteran journalist Bill Sloan re-creates this history-making battle, the crushing surrender, and the stories of the uncommonly gutsy men who fought it.
When it was over, a few hundred American Marines, sailors, and soldiers, along with a small army of heroic civilian laborers, had repulsed enemy forces several thousand strong-but it was still not enough. Among the Marines was twenty-year-old PFC Wiley Sloman. By Christmas Day, he lay semiconscious in the sand, struck by enemy fire. Another day would pass before he was found-stripped of his rifle and his uniform. Shocked to realize he hadn't awakened to victory, Sloman wondered: Had he been given up for dead-and had the Marines simply given up?
In this riveting account, veteran journalist Bill Sloan re-creates this history-making battle, the crushing surrender, and the stories of the uncommonly gutsy men who fought it.
Author
Bill Sloan
Bill Sloan is a respected military historian and author of more than a dozen books, including Brotherhood of Heroes: The Ultimate Battle. He lives in Dallas, Texas.
More audiobooks from Bill Sloan
Hell in the Pacific: A Marine Rifleman's Journey from Guadalcanal to Peleliu Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944-The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Undefeated: America's Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Given Up for Dead
Related audiobooks
Red Blood, Black Sand: Fighting Alongside John Basilone from Boot Camp to Iwo Jima Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Can't Get Much Closer Than This: Combat with the 80th "Blue Ridge" Division in World War II Europe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Damned Island After Another: The Saga of the Seventh Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lions of Iwo Jima: The Story of Combat Team 28 and the Bloodiest Battle in Marine Corps History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Admiral Bill Halsey: A Naval Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Steel Boat Iron Hearts: A U-boat Crewman's Life Aboard U-505 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Angels Against the Sun: A WWIl Saga of Grunts, Grit, and Brotherhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Storm on Our Shores: One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bones of My Grandfather: Reclaiming a Lost Hero of WWII Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Landing on the Edge of Eternity: Twenty-Four Hours at Omaha Beach Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Admiral Halsey's Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The War Journal of Major Damon 'Rocky' Gause Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadows in the Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines in World War II Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hero of the Pacific: The Life of Marine Legend John Basilone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hill 488 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Airborne: The Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers the Battle of Midway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Route 9 Problem: The Battle for Lang Vei Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Matter of Honor: Pearl Harbor: Betrayal, Blame, and a Family's Quest for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laos File Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sink ‘Em All: Submarine Warfare in the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5China Marine: An Infantryman's Life After World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5PT 105 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company's Battlefields with Sergeant Forrest Guth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strategy Masters: The Prince, The Art of War, and The Gallic Wars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Were Soldiers Once… and Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Given Up for Dead
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5USA Marines and civilians together fight against thousands of Japanese in USAs 1st. battles of ww2. Amazing story I didn't know.