LEYTE CALLING

News value and original experiences, for the story of an American guerilla of nineteen who was left -- with the fall of the Philippines -- to fight it out pretty much on his own. Escaping by boat, ca, St. John and a few others landed on , hid out in the back country which fever made unlivable, and eventually very forced to the town. Death -- and escape to Australia -- up the group; St. John seen five months with a native family and eventually joined the army of native and odd soldiers, like himself. Sent to to run a St. John than two years there with almost no food save sick cow or sick pig -- and few U.S. contacts. Informer incidents and reprisals -- guerilla killings with bolos rather than bullets -- a fifteen-year old Filipino Joan of Arc who did her bit -- the almost unbroken native solidarity and friendship -- and finally the thrill of the American landings, and return home for St. John. Verve and vivacity in the telling -- and an interest-compelling record. Not ""literature"" but good reading.