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

Vicki Constantine Croke

Sep 2014 · Recorded Books · Narrated by Simon Prebble

About this audiobook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

The 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

In 1920, Billy Williams came to colonial Burma as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence and character of the great animals who hauled logs through the jungle, he became a gifted “elephant wallah.” In Elephant Company, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust, and gratitude.

Elephant Company is also a tale of war and daring. When Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, Williams joined the elite British Force 136 and operated behind enemy lines. His war elephants carried supplies, helped build bridges, and transported the sick and elderly over treacherous mountain terrain. As the occupying authorities put a price on his head, Williams and his elephants faced their most perilous test. 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. Part biography, part war epic, Elephant Company is an inspirational narrative that illuminates a little-known chapter in the annals of wartime heroism.

Ratings and reviews

Burma, nonfiction, biography, action-adventure, historical-research, historical-places-events, historical-figures, audiobook A very moving and yet educational biography of one man, one elephant, and a kind of life obliterated by war and the passage of time referred to as progress. Learn about Burma and her elephants in the time from The Great War to the end of World War 2 as the elephant wallah enters the scene as a new recruit in the teak trade, learns how to care for them and love them, and lastly must return to a place that is no longer home. You won't want to miss a word of this well crafted and well researched biography studded with excerpts from his own journal. Simon Pebble is perfect as narrator.

About the author

Vicki Constantine Croke wrote the Animal Beat column in The Boston Globe for thirteen years and currently covers animal issues for WBUR-FM, Boston's NPR news station. She received a 2013 regional Edward R. Murrow Award. She has also written several books including The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal, The Modern Ark: The Story of Zoos: Past, Present and Future, and Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II.