Faded Yellow Ribbon: The Untold Story of the Brave Men Who Endured the Greatest Survival Story of World War II.

When the Japanese captured Marine Lance Corporal Mel Sheya, after the brutal battle for Corregidor, it marked the beginning of more than 3 years of captivity in which his continued existence often depended on the mood of his captors, the sacrifice and bravery of his comrades or just a simple slice of luck.From the initial shock of his capture, the infamous Bataan Death March, a near-fatal attack on their unmarked prison ship by a U.S. submarine, to imprisonment in Manchuria and the horrific conditions of the lead mines in Japan, Mel does whatever it takes to survive his captivity, including small acts of defiance that make him a hero among his fellow prisoners.But with brutal Japanese guards prepared to mete out terrible punishments and torture for the most minor violation of the rules, as well as existing on the most meagre of rations, survival is anything but certain and when Mel is forced to participate in a boxing match it becomes apparent that there is a plot by the camp commander to execute him as a way of extinguishing the spirit of the others.Liberation from this living hell would only come after the deaths of his closest friends and the destruction of Hiroshima, finally releasing Mel from confinement but leaving him scarred by the lingering damage of a cruel war without rules.Inspired by a true story, Faded Yellow Ribbon is a story of the horror of war and the lengths that the human soul will go to survive amidst its chaos, in an Odyssean journey through the Pacific Theatre of Operations during World War II. Read more