Speaker Series: Angels Against The Sun – The battle for the Philippines and occupation of Japan

Join us for our AHM Speaker Series with James Fenelon author of “Angels Against the Sun: A WW2 Saga of Grunts, Grit and Brotherhood.” In the tradition of Band of Brothers, Fenelon offers a boots-on-the-ground perspective of the 11th Airborne Division—nicknamed ‘The Angels’—in their daring campaign to liberate the Philippine Islands. The Angels’ combat operations were some of the most dramatic of the war, ranging from miserable jungle battles to the gritty urban combat required to push the Japanese out of Manila, the Philippine’s capital city of over 600,000 inhabitants.

The 11th Airborne were trained to enter combat via airdrop: by parachutes and engineless gliders. They were one of five such divisions created by the US Army during the war and the only one sent to the Pacific theater. There they were pitted against two merciless foes: the Imperial Japanese Army and the combined forces of monsoons, swamps, insects, mud, privation and disease.

Based on exhaustive archival research, including interviews, letters, and diaries, Angels Against the Sun takes readers on a soldier’s journey from the routine of stateside training to the diversions of football, boxing and distilling moonshine before descending into the hardships and tragedies of war. Written in a highly engaging, character-driven, narrative-style, this book will be compelling to all nonfiction readers.