MELBOURNE TO TOKYO
Melbourne to Tokyo takes a broad look at General MacArthur’s war as he guided his forces more than 6,500 miles to victory from his arrival at Melbourne, Australia after his escape from the Philippines in 1942 to his entry into Tokyo in 1945.
The author contends this was a line of advance in warfare exceeding anything in any previous war including Alexander's march to India and Caesar’s conquest of Gaul.
Colonel Imparato’s view was from the 374th Troop Carrier Group that he commanded. The group was rated the most decorated unit of it’s size in the Pacific war.
Rescue From Shangri-La details the rescue of the survivors of an ill-fated recreational flight from General MacArthur’s Far East Command headquarters into the central mountains of New Guinea in 1945. The rescue has been called one of the most spectacular feats of WW II.
Gliders were dropped into Shangri-La valley to be loaded with the crash survivors. They were then snatched into the air and towed 200 miles back to base where they landed on their own with the grateful crash survivors on board. The mission was chronicled in several news accounts a
1945 Life Magazine article.
Highlighted in the book are the experiences of beautiful 23 year old Margaret Hastings who survived the crash. During her ordeal and adventure she encountered the native peoples who were very curious about their new visitor who was dealing with both injuries and her fallen companions.
INTO DARKNESS
THE 374TH CARRIER GROUP
The 374th Troop Carrier Group transported men and material in the South Pacific theater of operations from 1942 until the end of the war operating from Australia, New Guinea, Biak, and the Philippine’s. The group flew B-18’s, C-39’s, C-49’s, C-56s, C-60’s, DC-3’s, and C-47’s.
Supplying allied forces in the Papuan Campaign, the group participated in the first airborne operation in the southwest Pacific dropping paratroopers to seize enemy bases and cut inland supply routes.
Other operations included evacuating wounded personnel, flying courier routes, making passenger flights and helping to move the 11th Airborne Division staging for Japan. The unit received three Distinguished Unit Citations.
RESCUE FROM SHANGRI-LA
During the early part of the war in the Pacific in 1943, American B-24 bombers we’re crashing in Pacific locations and in the US and Europe. Then one airplane went down in headhunter territory in New Guinea killing all onboard.
US Army Air Force pilot and operations officer, Major Ed Imparato was asked to determine the cause of the crash.
A crew of six led by the young Army Air Force officer, more at home in his airplane than in the jungle, set off into the jungle to investigate. Not all returned.
Two civilizations collide when they enter a region inhabited by cannibals who never saw a white man before. With opposing Japanese forces massing on the other end of New Guinea and cannibal natives in between, the task force set off from Port Moresby. The arduous expedition proceeded through almost impenetrable terrain, exhausting heat, unfriendly indigenous reptiles, and an unknown and potentially dangerous reception from hostile natives.
The crash site was finally located and the reasons for the crash discovered. The lives of countless crews of American and British Commonwealth air crews that followed were changed.
Colonel Edward T. Imparato