Kangaroo squadron : American courage in the darkest days of World War II

**In early 1942, while the American military was still in disarray from the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, a single U.S. Army squadron advanced to the far side of the world to face America's new enemy.** Based in Australia with inadequate supplies and no ground support, the squadron's pilots and combat crew endured tropical diseases while confronting numerically superior Japanese forces. Yet the outfit, dubbed the Kangaroo Squadron, proved remarkably resilient and successful, conducting long-range bombing raids, carrying out armed reconnaissance missions, and rescuing General MacArthur and his staff from the Philippines. Before now, the story of their courage and determination in the face of overwhelming odds has largely been untold. Using eyewitness accounts from diaries, letters, interviews, and memoirs, as well as Japanese sources, historian Bruce Gamble brings to vivid life this dramatic true account. But the Kangaroo Squadron's story doesn't end in World War II. One of the squadron's B-17 bombers, which crash-landed on its first mission, was recovered from New Guinea after almost seventy years in a jungle swamp. The intertwined stories of the Kangaroo Squadron and the "Swamp Ghost" are filled with thrilling accounts of aerial combat, an epic survival story, and the powerful mystique of an invaluable war relic. The Dramatic Untold Story Of The First Us Army Unit To Cross The Pacific And Strike Back At The Japanese After Pearl Harbor.--provided By Publisher. Preface: Degrees Of Separation -- Prologue -- Long Night's Journey Into War -- Boeing's Big, Beautiful Bomber -- Off We Go! -- Hap's Farewell -- Surfboards And Submarines -- To Fiji, And Beyond -- Storm Clouds -- The First Raid On Rabaul -- Gunfight Over New Britain -- Green Hell -- Fever -- Invasion -- The Evacuation Of Dugout Doug -- Evacuation Redux -- Jungle Odyssey -- The Royce Special Mission -- Turning Point: The Battle Of The Coral Sea -- Silver Stars -- The Reconnaissance Game -- Alone Against The Empire -- The Long Road Home -- The Swamp Ghost -- Appendix: Award Citations. Bruce Gamble. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "The dramatic untold story of the first US Army unit to cross the Pacific and strike back at the Japanese after Pearl Harbor." ... Provided by publisher