Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World WarII

408 Pages·2008·29.12 MB·English

by  Brendan I. Koerner

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Part history, part thriller. Now the Hell Will Start
tells the astonishing tale of Herman Perry, the soldier
who sparked the greatest manhunt of World War II—
and who became that wars unlikeliest folk hero
A TRUE STORY OF M U R D E R , love, and headhunt¬
ers, Now the Hell Will Start tells the remarkable tale of
Herman Perry, a budding Romeo from the streets of
Washington, D.C., who wound up going native in the
Indo-Burmese jungle—not because he yearned for adven¬
ture, but rather to escape the greatest manhunt conducted
by the United States Army during World War II.
An African American GI assigned to a segregated
labor battalion, Perry was shipped to South Asia in 1943,
enduring unspeakable hardships while sailing around
the globe. He was one of thousands of black soldiers
dispatched to build the Ledo Road, a highway meant to
appease China’s conniving dictator Chiang Kai-shek.
Stretching from the thickly forested mountains of North-
East India across the tiger-infested vales of Burma, the
road was a lethal nightmare, beset by monsoons, malaria,
and insects that chewed men’s flesh to pulp. Perry could
not endure the jungle’s brutality, nor the racist treatment
meted out by his white officers. He found solace in opium
and marijuana, which further warped his fraying psyche.
Finally, on March 5,1944, he broke down—an emotional
collapse that ended with his shooting an unarmed white
lieutenant.
So began Perry’s flight through the Indo-Burmese
wilderness, one of the planet’s most hostile realms. While
the military police combed the brothels of Calcutta, Perry
trekked through the jungle, eventually stumbling upon
a village festooned with pehc'UorJ vuman skulls. It was
here, amid a tribe of elaboi :i tooed headhunters,
(continued, on back flap) 0608
BEL-TIB NEW NON-FICTION
940.548 Koerner 2008,
Koerner, Brendan I
Now the hell will start :
one soldier's flight from
the greatest manhunt of
World War II
DATE DUE
Brodart Co. Cat. #55 137 001 Printed in USA
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/nowhellwillstartOOkoer
NOW
THE HELL
WILL START

NOW
THE HELL
WILL START
ONE SOLDIER’S FLIGHT FROM
THE GREATEST MANHUNT
OF WORLD WAR II
BRENDAN I. KOERNER
T P P
II E E N G LIN R E S S
New York
2008
THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R oRL, England
First published in 2008 by The Penguin Press,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Brendan I. Koerner, 2008
All rights reserved
Photograph credits
Pages vii, 21, 60, 331: Private collection of Edna Wilson
27, 260, 274, 295, 299: Private collection of Kathryn Cullum Lee
93, 105, 111, 121, 269: U.S. Army Military History Institute
168: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (PRM 1998.221.47.2)
180: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (PRM 1998.327.3.447)
323: Rafael DeSoto, courtesy of Rafael DeSoto, Jr.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Koerner, Brendan I.
Now the hell will start : one soldier’s flight from the greatest manhunt of
World War II / Brendan I. Koerner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59420-173-8
1. Perry, Herman, 1922— 2. World War, 1939—1945—African Americans—Biography. 3. United States.
Army—African Americans—Biography. 4. African American soldiers—Biography. 5. Stilwell Road
(Burma and India) 6. Military deserters—United States—Biography. 7. Escapes—Burma—History—
20th century. I. Title.
D810.N4P4756 2008
94o.54’8 —dc22
2007043078
Printed in the United States of America
13579 10 8642
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Who was the slum-dweller now; and who looked down
from commanding heights? There is nothing like a War
for the reinvention of lives . . .
Midnight’s Children
—Salman Rushdie,
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