num_pages: 541
description: Twenty-one soldiers march away from Clark Field avoiding capture, intent on attaining a winnable fighting position. They are led by a sergeant, background in administration with little training in tactics, who must learn his men’s strengths and weaknesses. The enemy is closing in; prostitutes, friendly villagers, an Island trade freighter, captured Japanese truck, and a crippled United States submarine aid in this perilous journey. Escaping to Australia, they’re forced to travel its width—with help of a damaged B25 aircraft, allied soldiers and civilian transport—to reach a U.S. Army base on continent’s eastern shore. Disheveled soldiers are thrown into stockade, branded deserters. Awaiting verification of origin, they operate around military bureaucracy, managing recreation and romance. Freed, individuals are reassigned to units using their special training. As the war draws to an end, two members meet and compare knowledge of the group’s fate. In all wars there are survivors and casualties.
language: English
title: The Last to Leave
titlecomplete: The Last to Leave
publisher: PublishAmerica