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Members, please login. Author interviews, book reviews and lively book commentary are found here. When the war finally caught up with Williams and his team, it put them in grave danger. It contained a treasure trove of archival materials — diary excerpts, unpublished manuscripts, movie treatments, handwritten essays and notes — a find Croke refers to as the “El Dorado of Elephant Bill Files.” Armed with this incredible, unexpected resource, Croke paints a rich and intimate portrait of a fascinating man living in extraordinary circumstances, and the even more extraordinary people — and elephants — surrounding him. Not a member? © 2003 - 2017 BookMovement, LLC. Williams suspected Po Toke of the crime, believing that the handler had killed Bandoola “out of a deranged attachment to the great animal.” Po Toke, coming to the end of his working days, could not give up his beloved charge. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. He was devoted to his childhood donkey, Prince (“the first animal with which I enjoyed a joke”), and was bereft to leave him behind to go to boarding school. Williams is the protagonist of Vicki Croke’s splendid new book, “Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II.” Despite the overblown subtitle — the World War II part comes only at the end and feels somewhat underplayed, given the drama and danger that unfolded — Croke’s story is an often moving account of Williams, who earned the sobriquet “Elephant Bill,” and his unusual bond with the largest land mammals on earth. Matthew Price is a regular contributor to the Globe. Shortly after Williams returned from World War I, a chance meeting and the mere mention of elephants were all it took for the animal lover to apply for a job as an elephant wallah with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation. He can be reached at [email protected].

And what fascinating facts about elephants Croke unearths.

Culling elephants from the wild could be a brutal process, but Williams implemented gentler methods that benefited both elephant and human alike. He was also an elephant whisperer of sorts, who understood them on an intuitive level, working them strenuously, yes, but also tending to their every need. At one camp, the newlywed Susan was alarmed by a strange odor rising from their bed. In a Hollywood-worthy climax, Elephant Company, cornered by the enemy, attempted a desperate escape: a risky trek over the mountainous border to India, with a bedraggled group of refugees in tow. Speaking of pig fat (and going off on a slight tangent), Williams would later fall in love with and marry an attractive and like-minded young woman, Susan Rowland, who once “pardoned” two ducks that were intended for dinner, and kept them as pets. As the book opens, Williams, an English World War I veteran, is just arriving in Burma in the 1920s to work in the Bombay Burmah Trading Corp.’s teak-harvesting operations. He also learned from them, following their complex social rituals, distilling them into a code of behavior he would draw on in the most perilous of circumstances. He wrote that elephants acted like domesticated animals for only eight hours a day, and indeed, most of the company’s elephants had begun their lives in the wild. But back to elephants.

By sundown, class was dismissed and the babies reunited with their mothers, “having been stuffed with hundreds of bananas.”. To Williams, Bandoola represented “a new generation of elephants.” And with that, the blueprint for Williams’s “elephant school” was drawn. Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II . But it was while serving in World War I that he first “really fell in love” — with a camel named Frying Pan.

All of his skills were needed on a dangerous trek across the India-Burma frontier in 1944 that required a steep climb over a nearly impassable cliff face. (He was also a bit of a mischief-maker — he once broke into a supply shed and sucked down “an untold amount of dry rice with his trunk.” The gallons of water sipped afterward made it a recipe for digestive havoc. When war came to Burma from 1942 to 1945, both the Japanese and the British mobilized elephants, enlisting the massy beasts in their respective war efforts. She found it, she says, “a little anticlimactic,” but pored over the documents anyway. The moment Williams met Bandoola, a famous tusker used for dragging logs, he believed that destiny had brought them together. But as soon as I began to read “Elephant Company,” I realized that not only was my heart safe, but that this book is about far more than just the war, or even elephants. Blending biography, history, and wildlife biology, Croke builds her story around Williams’s exotic adventures. But Elephant Company is also a tale of war and daring. He can be reached at. Elephant Bill’s exploits would earn him top military honors and the praise of famed Field Marshal Sir William Slim. Williams was determined to put an end to the practice, but didn’t know how. It was a shocking end to a regal life.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKThe remarkable story of James Howard “Billy” Williams, whose uncanny rapport with the world’s largest land animals transformed him from a carefree young man into the charismatic war hero known as Elephant Bill   Billy Williams came to colonial Burma in 1920, fresh from service in World War I, to a job as a “forest man” for a British teak company. What he also didn’t know was that the solution was headed right toward him, in the form of a magnificent bull elephant on the cusp of his prime years. “Billy” Williams was fascinated by the subtlety and strength of elephants’ complex social bonds.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS is a book that can be read and reread, recommended and handed off between friends; it begs to be discussed and mulled over. Standing over 9 feet tall in some cases and weighing several tons, these beasts were marvels of nature — massive and intimidating, but also gentle and intuitive. He was a man with a capacity for forgiveness so remarkable it verged on being a flaw, a man who was constantly re-evaluating his reactions to situations and people and, when push came to shove, remained true to his values.

They have six sets of teeth throughout their lives that move into place “not from underneath, but as if moved forward along on a slow conveyor belt,” and once they’ve used up their sixth set, they starve to death. .

Calves born to domesticated mothers began school at 5 years of age (Williams referred to them as “my babies”), along with the 12-year-old boys who would grow up with them and become their lifelong uzis.

Sign up for your FREE email about the latest top book club picks, exclusive book giveaways, new releases, and online author events. I have to confess — my love of elephants made me apprehensive to review a book about their role in World War II.

Williams investigated, and discovered that one of the servants had greased the frame with pig fat to reduce the sounds of their enthusiastic lovemaking.

He began following them into the forest at night when they were released to forage and socialize, noting that during those hours their behaviors and attitudes reverted to a nearly wild state. Big, sturdy creatures, they could carry massive loads and traverse tough jungles.

. Billy Williams is an extraordinary character, a real-life reverse Tarzan raised in civilization who finds wisdom and his true self living among jungle beasts.

It was a lucrative business that contributed to the Empire’s riches, one that took its toll on European recruits, who had to contend with malaria and other tropical maladies. His name was J.H.

He was found shot with a bullet in his head and one of his tusks sawn off. Croke is a natural storyteller, and she deftly evokes Williams’s tale. [Read Book] Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped. His war elephants would carry supplies, build bridges, and transport the sick and elderly over treacherous mountain terrain. Published: 2014-07-15 Hardcover : 368 pages. In Elephant Company, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust, and gratitude.

Vicki Constantine Croke delivers an exciting tale of this elephant whisperer–cum–war hero, while beautifully reminding us of the enduring bonds between animals and humans.”—Mitchell Zuckoff, author of Lost in Shangri-La and Frozen in Time.

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