Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II

This is a marvelous book on many levels. It is about the rewards of choosing a career you enjoy as opposed to all “the right” reasons – money, prestige, etc. It is about Elephants; if you didn’t have much interest or care for Elephants before, you will have a special place in your heart for these immense, strong, smart, social, kind, courageous, and memorable animals after reading this book. It is about the mixing of cultures – British and Burmese – and how British Colonialism, often criticized, proved to be of benefit to the local population. It is about the mysteries and miseries of the jungle and monsoon climate of faraway places. Of those Brits going to Burma to seek adventure, most found the loneliness, monotony, heat, Monsoons, mud, and lack of amenities unbearable and went back to England. And finally, it is about War – specifically the War in the Pacific in World War II and how the combination of courage and never-give-up character of “our greatest generation” achieved victory in Burma. While Elephants – their physiology, demeanor, and ability to be of immense use in the handling of two-ton teak logs – was a constant theme, the book weaves in the British character (how they maintained cleanly pressed clothes, well-cooked meals, and a sense of decorum in the hostile jungle climate is beyond me), and also love – of J.H. “Elephant Bill” for his wife, his workers, and his Elephants. The author did considerable research, much of that obtained from or in conversations with “Elephant Bill’s” son. This is a compelling, “page turner” story about a remarkable man who found his life’s passion, realized it, and made the most of it for himself and others. He learned as much from the Elephants and the Burmese people as they learned from him. Many of us wish for this kind of life – and honestly most of us are simply not cut out for it, but to live it vicariously through a book like this is an act of joy. I wish I would have read it when I was younger – but to have read it at all is satisfaction.

Captain James “Billy” Williams was discharged from the British Army in 1920 after serving in combat for four years in WWI. Looking for adventure and a change of scenery, he accepted a job with a British company in Burma (known as Myanmar today) that was harvesting teak from the jungles. Upon arrival, he was dispatched to an outlying camp and soon became intimately familiar with the native handlers (called uzis) and the elephants who were doing the serious work of hauling teak logs to dry creek beds where they would be washed downstream on arrival of the monsoon season. Williams soon picks up the native Burmese language to converse with his uzis and is also able to communicate well with his elephants, understanding all their sounds and movements. He gives them loving care and talks to them in Burmese, heals their wounds and massages their wrinkled hides. We learn many fascinating details about elephants and their physical makeup: how they can eat up to 600 pounds of vegetation daily while foraging in the jungle at night, the location and function of various body parts, and how their intelligence allows them to accurately place logs while building a bridge. It’s a lonely job for Williams because there are sparse opportunities to meet eligible females and establish a relationship. It all changes in 1931 when, at the age of 33, Williams meets a young British woman in one of the camps named Susan Rowland. Luckily for Williams, Susan loves the jungle and animals as much as he does and romance soon blossoms, followed by their marriage. In the late 1930s, the coming war in Europe seems far removed from the Williams family but a real threat arrives when the Japanese invade Burma and bomb Rangoon on December 23, 1941. Susan and their young son, Treve, must be evacuated to Mandalay but James has a different mission: gather up all the company’s elephants and move them to safety away from the Japanese soldiers. It becomes a superhuman task and I had to stay up late one night to finish the book’s exciting ending. Author Vicki Croke has done a superb writing job, gathering material from interviews with Treve and combing through James’ voluminous diaries, reports and records. A map of wartime Burma is provided with extensive Notes and Index sections at the end. Overall it’s an fascinating and inspiring story about one man’s courage and leadership in a part of the world seldom visited or written about.

After reading the NYT's review of Vicki Croke's Elephant Company, I was so intrigued that I ordered it right away. This is the true story of Col. James "Elephant Bill" Williams, an Englishman who, as a young WWI veteran, went to Burma to try his hand in the business of teak harvesting. The teak industry was not yet mechanized and relied heavily on the power provided by trained elephants. Williams had been an animal fancier since early childhood and was instantly enthralled by the huge beasts. To say that he developed a bond with them is to grossly understate the case. His ability to understand and communicate with elephants, his love of jungle life, and his leadership abilities combined to propel him to success as a manager of teak forests. His career development is tracked skillfully related by Ms. Croke. She has researched her subject well, and Williams' character and personality are brought to light vividly as she chronicles the events that led Williams to become "Elephant Bill.". As an added bonus, we learn a tremendous amount about elephants, their behavioral quirks, and their interactions with humans. With the advent of WWII, the story becomes downright thrilling. Williams serves the British forces in Burma in their bloody struggle against the Japanese. He is made their first and only elephant officer, given the rank of colonel, and allowed to form the company for which the book is named. The company's elephants are meticulously trained and cared for, and completely loyal to Williams. Harnessing their intelligence and great strength, Williams is able to construct log bridges for British forces with unprecedented rapidity. Finally, and against great odds, he and his elephants are able to effect the evacuation of a large number of British nationals, native Burmese, and ethnic Gurkas from Japanese-held territory, across hostile terrain, and ultimately into the safety of east India. This is a remarkable story of a remarkable man. While a life such as Williams provides a lot of "can't-miss" material, only a skilled author can do it justice. Vicki Croke has filled the bill admirably, and I highly recommend this book.

I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. I'm not terribly interested in war stories, but I love animals, so I decided to give it a try and was richly rewarded. The war is only a backdrop, and only for part of the book. Primarily it is the story of a man and the elephants he comes to know and love over the years. Williams begins his career in the teak industry, where elephants were used for hauling and building. He quickly falls in love with the animals, especially a young "tusker" (not all Asian elephants have tusks) named Bandoola. Over time, he manages to modify the cruel training regimen used to break the captured wild elephants after noticing that the youngsters will imitate their mothers' tasks if given a chance. As he works his way up in his company's management structure, he is able to use his increasing authority to better the lives of what he now considers "his" elephants while improving production at the same time. Bandoola is a recurring thread in the tapestry of Williams's life. It doesn't seem to be only Williams's love for him that makes him seem special to us – he is huge, powerful and extremely intelligent, as proven several times during the book when he saves the day in one emergency or another. Even after separations, the love of these two for each other is as strong when they meet again as ever. When World War II does finally arrive in Burma, Williams puts his own health issues last as he leads a procession of elephants, Burmese and Thai workers, and refugee women and children in a desperate bid for freedom over the border in India. Since the Japanese control all the roads in the area, the group must travel straight overland over forbidding mountains at the edge of the Himalayas. Although Elephant Company is primarily expository, the author does a fine job keeping us in suspense once the war reaches the teak forest: Will the starving and sick refugees be able to stand the strain 8f the dash to the border? Will the elephant workers remain loyal? Will the lowland elephants, heavily loaded with supplies and with inadequate food, be able – or even willing – to climb the mountains between them and the border? And most of all, will Williams, who is wracked with stomach pain, and the huge elephant Bandoola, manage to negotiate the steep, narrow mountain track to reach safety and freedom? Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, Elephant Company is definitely a worthwhile read.

Billy Williams returned from the Great War and desired nothing more than adventure in the company of elephants. Traveling to Burma and signing on with a British teak lumber concern, he got his chance. This is such a charming story! I'm usually not a reader of "charming stories" and the military history aspect of the book initially triggered the purchase. Actually, there's very little military history and absolutely no combat in the book. Having said that, I am glad I bought it and it really is an excellent read. James Howard "Billy" Williams entered Burma at what would be the end of the colonial era in which Great Britain ruled large patches of the globe. In Burma, Williams becomes an employee of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation and is immediately in contact with elephants and the experience affects him greatly. For a man who loves animals, working with these intelligent giants is a fascination and a joy. Williams becomes a "wallah" - an elephant expert who can treat elephant injuries, direct their work and comes to understand their thinking together with his Burmese workers. It's a window into a long-gone world and how British lived in the colonies. The book chronicles his adventures with the elephants, his Burmese workers, falling in love and marrying, being involved in the Allied war effort in the CBI (China-Burma-India) theater. Although his elephants did good work building bridges and leading refugees to India, barely escaping the clutches of the brutal Japanese, "Elephant Bill's" elephants were not vital or even important. But, it adds to the story itself. This is a tale of the jungle, of a man's joy in the wilds and among animals who always had the best interests of his elephants at heart. He established "academies" for young elephants rather than allow the calves of working, female elephants die. He established hospitals for injured elephants and showed the company that they didn't need to use cruel methods of capturing wild elephants. As I said, this isn't my usual read. Having said that, I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it with five stars.

Wonderful story! I already had a great fondness for elephants and enormous respect for their intellect & the nature of their matriarchal family structure & bonding, but this book made that affection & respect even deeper! The book was written and published long before the current crisis in which we are witnessing the wholesale slaughter of these magnificent animals, so it provides no information in that regard, but that very fact, the lack of any political agenda at a time when none was needed, is why everyone should read it. We should read it if for no other reason than to simply learn more about elephants from a veterinarian who spent years living with and caring for them. Read about the female elephant who was accidentally blinded and cared for by her child who led her daily to water & food, just as she had once led him. Read about the tragic death of that young elephant and his mother's deep mourning. We all need to read stories like these written in an earlier age and think about the state of these same animals today. When I reflect on what is happening to elephants in India & on the African continent, I feel helpless and enraged. China is the primary market for the ivory that has led to the slaughter of these gentle giants, deaths motivated by greed. It is quite possible that elephants will disappear from the earth in this generation.This book and books like it should be required reading in our schools & China should continue to be brought to task daily for its' failure to do more than it currently does to protect these wonderful creatures!

I read this book for book club. I don’t normally read non-fiction but my love of animals and interest in history plunged me into this story of courage and belief triumphing over incredible challenges. These events of WWII took place in Burma, a part of the world not very familiar to me. It was amazing to realize the huge distances and unimaginably dense jungle that existed and may still exist there today. The book covers a story as big as its elephant heroes and as complex as its jungle setting. It is well written with meticulous attention to detail. The cruelty of war and wonton loss of life is well documented. I did find the writer’s repeated and very graffic accounts of the cruelty of the Japanese soldiers during this war unsettling as they did not necessarily advance the plot. However the well researched and detailed narrative of the life of the story’s hero, Billy Williams and his extraordinary elephants, made this book a riveting read. Worth the effort!

This was a very well written account of a man's experience in Burma with the Asian Elephants. The prose is richly written and it provides a very interesting description of the remarkable intelligence and capabilities of the elephants. The majority of the story takes place from the 1920's through the end of WWII. James Williams is employed as a forester for a large British timber company in the Burma jungle. As part of his job, he develops a deep connection with the elephants that are used to harvest the teak timber. Williams joins the war effort for the British government in a special role (in charge of the elephants) as Japan invades Burma. He organizes the elephants and their handlers to help build bridges to facilitate the British army to stop the Japanese advance. The elephants are also conscripted during this time to prevent their use by the Japanese. Ultimately, the elephants help rescue/evacuate civilian refugees in a remarkable migration to India through nearly impenetrable jungles and unsurmountable mountains. Williams demonstrates a unique knowledge and ability to handle and get the most from the elephants and their Uzi handlers. Much of the story centers around a remarkable elephant bull called Bandoola. Bandoola saved Williams life before the war and was one of the most powerful of the elephants depicted in the story. Bandoola leads the other elephants through a treacherous climb along a shear cliff as they escape the Japanese advance. This was a highly enjoyable read that treats the reader to a better understanding of the intelligence and capabilities of these remarkable animals.

Vicki Croke's "Elephant Company" is a fabulous book that brings to life, J.H. William's deep and passionate relationship with the teak logging elephants of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, and his exceptional contribution to the war efforts. During lashing monsoons, jungles of Burma become inaccessible, and the swollen rivers turn treacherous. The author has painstakingly researched and chronicled the formidable living and working conditions of both humans and elephants alike in the inhospitable Chindwin River belt. Elephant Bill's selfless service and sacrifice earned him so much respect, that during the Japanese occupation, he was able to lead herds of elephants, and weak and infirm refugees, hundreds of miles to safety in India, through uncharted and hazardous hill tracts. Author Croke took me back to my logging stint half a century ago chronicled in my book "An Elephant Kissed My Window". Reviewed in India by M. Ravindran.

Una storia bella vera e da insegnamento per la vita da tanti punti di vista. E mi ha presentato Burmania!

new york times best sellerと表紙に書いてあって、自分の興味あるジャンルの本は、ハズレを 引いた事がない。 殊に今回は、ホームラン。それも、満塁ホームランクラスの満足感があった。動物が好きなひと、ペットを 飼っているひと全員に勧めたい。登場人物が象を観察して、人間的にも成長するだけではない。 ＜人生に大切なことは象から学んだ＞と、言い切っている様子が、手に取るように分かる。 もしも犬より遥かに大きな動物を ペットに持てるなら、象を飼ってみたい。しみじみ、そう思わされた。

Sehr schnell und gut

Great story! Love it because it is non-fiction...and it is about a time which I really knew nothing about, so the story is truly fascinating to me! I loved learning about that time in history, but especially about a man who becomes so inspired by an elephant and then elephants...his love was contagious and now I am reading all I can about Bandoola, the great elephant, and Bill Williams who loved these animals. GREAT book.