BLACKBURN'S HEADHUNTERS

This overburdened account of guerrilla warfare in the Philippines during World War II is strictly for men. Mr. Harkins, who obviously considers that Lt. Donald D. Blackburn is one of the war's unsung heroes, has written a coldly factual tribute to his perseverance. Having chosen to flee rather than surrender to the Japanese at Bataan, Blackburn organized and led a troop of Igorots, the famous headhunters of the Philippines. In spite of little arms, ammunition, medical supplies or clothing, his small army effectively harassed the Japanese in northern Luzon and made it an island of resistance behind enemy lines. Unfortunately Blackburn never quite emerges from the brush of minor characters, names of small towns, etc. to become the dramatic leader he must have been. The Igorots however are more fortunate- and the reader discovers, as Blackburn did, that they are a friendly and amazingly resourceful tribe. Limited interest.