Armed and Abandoned

In the summer of 1951 sixty-five young U.S. Marine recruit volunteers are discreetly transported to and inserted into the mountainous tropical forests of Southwestern Luzon, Philippines. There, they are trained in jungle combat and deployed into their unique, low profile mission on the fringe of the battle raging between the Philippine Army and communist Hukbalahap forces. This book is a modest effort to memorialize rather than judge the persistent storytelling of a few very old men recalling the indelible experiences they shared halfway around the world more than six decades ago. The writer gladly stipulates to the absence of official evidence to support their collective myth. In other words, it never really happened. It is pure fiction, and you may therefore safely believe every word of it.