MONARCH: Casco-Viejo Trilogy

This is a factual account of times and events from the life of Boyd Holifield, an American military survivor of the infamous 63-mile Bataan Death March… an event so unimaginable that it shocked the world by its sheer brutality, butchery and senseless murders. 

The incident and documented atrocities took place in the early days of World War II on Luzon Island in the Philippines known as the Battle of Bataan. It was preceded by nearly four months of fierce battles between the defending American and Filipino forces and the invading troops of the Japanese Imperial Army. 

On April 6th 1942, US Army Major General Edward King capitulated to the Japanese, resulting in the largest surrender of a military force in American history, over 79,500 American and Filipino troops. The physical and emotional trauma, devastating lose of pride and dignity and complete and utter sense of abandonment of those Allied men and women was best summoned up by Frank Hewlett, the only American journalist left in the islands after the Battle of Bataan:

We are the battling bastards of Bataan,
No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam;
No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces;
No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces;
And nobody gives a damn.

Many historians, military commanders and political representatives have long believed that General Douglas MacArthur was possessed by a deeply flawed personality. He was a commander with a mind that was too closed and inflexible for him to readily deduce an enemy's strategic and tactical goals or options, and this impaired his capacity to take appropriate measures to counter them. He ignored unpleasant realities when it did not suit him to acknowledge them, and tended to surround himself with servile staff officers who were aware of this dangerous weakness and indulged it. A surprise move by an enemy could produce paralyzing indecision at MacArthur's headquarters. 

He distanced himself from his troops and was indifferent to their welfare. He was also a conceited man, with a passion for self-glorification, and incapable of admitting serious military mistakes or learning from them. 

These character flaws would lead him in the Philippines to squander his military resources and sacrifice his troops for the sake of his own vanity. This was the man President Roosevelt had placed in command of the United States army and air forces in the Philippines.

Rob Kircher is a consistently 5-star reviewed psychological suspense thriller author.

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