Eye-deep in hell

An English professor in a small Texas town, William A. Owens in 1944 did what many younger men had done before him: he enlisted to serve his country in its second World War. Assigned to serve with the Counter Intelligence Corps in the Philippines, Owens soon found himself at the very heart of the action, not only experiencing the daily life of a soldier but, because of his duties as an intelligence agent, playing a part in the "big picture" of the war as well.^ Owens was in all the major military maneuvers: in the third wave of soldiers landing at Leyte Gulf, in the invasion of Luzon, in the siege and taking of Manila, in the countryside with the communist Huks and guerrillas after the Philippines were "secured." As a CIC agent, Owens interrogated Japanese and read captured documents, thwarted infiltration and sabotage, and, as he dealt with the conflicting factions left in the vacuum created by the war, came to know the major Filipino political leaders on both the left and the right. Acclaimed for his autobiographical works, This Stubborn Soil and A Season of Weathering, and his novels, Walking on Borrowed Land, Fever in the Earth, and Look to the River, Owens brings his formidable literary skills to this fascinating memoir of his wartime experiences.^ The unforgettable people Owens met and events he experienced come vividly to life: the Filipino leper to whom Owens could not grant shelter for fear of contamination; the suspected spy whom he befriended and later delivered home to die; his weary fellow soldiers' joyous response to the discovery of an open brewery; those same soldiers' subdued talk of life and death in the anxious moments before a beach invasion. The role of the Counter Intelligence Corps in the War in the Pacific has rarely received the attention it deserves; here we have an enlightening firsthand look at that role by one of whose Citation for Legion of Merits honors his "exceptionally meritorious conduct" and "distinct contribution to the continued effectiveness of Counter Intelligence activities" in the Philippines. So honored by his country, William A.^ Owen is sure to win further honors of another kind for Eye-Deep in Hell--an unforgettable journey through the invasions, the interrogations, and the ruins and atrocities of the War in the Pacific.--Jacket flap.