Mitchell Zuckoff

”With time, news becomes history. And history, it’s been said, is what happened to other people.”

This book…..

Where to start. I already knew all I thought I needed to know about this horrific day but no. Not even close. Mitchell Zuckoff managed to take events that we all are very well versed in and create a page turner par excellence. I mean, it read like a thriller where I had no idea what was going to happen next. He did it by filling the narrative with personal stories of both show more survivors and those who never stood a chance and yet I didn’t know until the last possible second which it would be. And he did it also by painstakingly developing a timeline that step by step revealed the horrors that we’re all familiar with. And yet, he made these events seem like they just happened and I hadn’t really heard about it before.

Of course I heard at the time about the ghastly communications problems between federal agencies that prevented basic (and I mean basic) information, crucially needed in the case of multiple attacks, from being shared even on a rudimentary level but to think that the NYPD and the NYFD couldn’t easily communicate vital information was fairly shocking. All the communication problems added to the incredible chaos that ruled the day especially in NYC but even at the Pentagon. Granted, these problems have been addressed and hopefully the chances of another day like 9/11 are less likely but just reading about it enraged me. I assumed too much about protections guaranteed by the government.

Please don’t think you know all you need to know about what happened that day. This brilliant book will change your mind and remind you that we must never forget. These brave, passionate, real people will stay with me for a long, long time. So worthy of at least five stars. show less

Summary: An account of rescue efforts in 1942-43 and a retrieval effort in 2012 to recover several lost heroes, all occurring on the Greenland icecap.

In November of 1942, a C-53 cargo plane took off from Iceland to an airfield on the west side of Greenland. For unknown reasons it crashed inland from the eastern coast of Greenland. A B-17 diverted from transport to England joined the search with a crew of nine, captained by Armand Monteverde. Unsuccessful, they ran into a bad snowstorm that show more was like “flying in milk.” They also crashed, the plane splitting into two pieces. All nine survived the crash and much of the narrative in this book describes their efforts to survive in subzero temperatures, avoiding life-ending crevasses and fighting frostbite and keeping up hope as months went by with little more contact than overflights by another B-17, piloted by “Pappy” Turner, dropping supplies and communicating with the survivors.

Part of the 1942-43 story concerned the efforts to rescue these men either by plane or motor- or dogsled. Sadly, rescuers, both by plane and motorsled died, as did one of the B-17 crash survivors. Three of those who died were on a Coast Guard plane called “The Flying Duck” piloted by John Pritchard and Benjamin Bottoms. They rescued two crash survivors, one who was most severely affected by frostbite. Coming back, they picked up another survivor. Loren Howarth, who had repaired a radio on the crashed B-17. They, too, encountered a fast approaching storm and went down with no survivors.

Here enters the other part of this story. Lou Sapienza, who had participated in previous recovery missions learned the story about the lost men from the Flying Duck. On a preliminary survey in 2010, they identified possible crash sites. Now, he wants to go back. He needs the help of the Coast Guard and a lot of money the Pentagon doesn’t have. He enlists the author to chronicle (and help bankroll) the effort. Offsetting a reluctant bureaucracy is Coast Guard Commander Jim Blow, whose passion is not to leave those missing in action behind. Somehow, they come up with enough for a week on the Greenland ice cap.

So much of what sustains interest in this narrative, which goes back and forth between the rescue and recovery missions, is the uncertainty that they will find a way to rescue the B-17 survivors or recover the Flying Duck and her crew. The big challenge is Greenland itself. There are so many ways it can kill you from crevasses to polar bears to cold. For the surviving crew, the challenge was crash injuries, advancing frostbite, and morale. One is impressed in all the ways this crew improvised shelter, jury-rigged radios, and used what they had on hand. The recovery mission led by Jim and Lou had its own challenges. Faulty GPS coordinates, moving heavy equipment across crevasses, and conflict within the expedition pose challenges, even as they scramble to locate the Flying Duck as another of Greenland’s storms approach, necessitating evacuation.

Zuckoff’s eyewitness narrative coupled with careful historical research makes for a riveting account of the effort to “bring them home” that is a heartbeat of the services. The efforts to survive, to rescue, and to recover are all heroic. In a day when so many public figures disappoint, a narrative about heroes, who have their own struggles, but transcend and work and risk for noble ends, is a welcome gift. show less

On May 13, 1945 a group of US Army servicemen and WACs stationed in New Guinea were taken on a sight-seeing tour over the jungle to view a remote valley nicknamed Shangri-La. The plane, a Gremlin, named for Roald Dahl's children's book, crashed in the uncharted area, killing all but three. Corporal Margaret Hastings, Lieutenant John McCollom (whose twin was also on the flight) and Sergeant Kenneth Decker were stranded in the rainforest with a stone-age people said to be cannibals on one show more side, and Japanese troops on the other. All three had severe injuries that quickly showed signs of becoming gangrenous. A yellow tarpaulin salvaged from the wreckage was spotted by a search plane after a few days. The parachutes dropping supplies were also spotted by the natives who came to ogle their visitors. Eventually two medics and a rescue party parachuted in. The problem in bringing about a rescue was that no one had any idea how to achieve it. The final plan to tow and release a glider on a cleared area, then snatch it up tethered to a another plane stretched the imagination. That journey on June 28 was horrific. As the canvas peeled away from the bottom of the glider Hastings said it was like a glass-bottomed boat with no bottom. The process was repeated three times to get everyone out.

The Dani people used no metal, and had not yet discovered the wheel. They were constantly at war with their neighbours believing war to be necessary. Although they had no religion, they chopped off the fingers of girls to satisfy the ghost of a relative killed in war. They counted only to three, any more was "many". Just as legend predicted, a new age dawned in the ensuing decades. Shangri-La is now known as the Baliem Valley. An interesting travel section in The New York Times describes it here http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/travel/papua-indonesia-frugal-traveler.html?_r...

Press interest in the crash at the time was intense but was eclipsed by the news of war ending. More than sixty years later Zuckoff met with the last remaining survivor who was able to show him diaries, photos, scrapbooks, military bulletins, maps, letters, and ground-to-air radio transcripts as well as film footage of events as they happened. Zuckoff's research paid off. Without glossing over attitudes prevalent at the time or straying off topic, he has produced an excellent account, written with a lot of flair. show less

Non-fiction written as a compelling narrative of the survivors of a plane crash in “Shangri-La” (named after the valley in the James Hilton novel [b:Lost Horizon|2978|Lost Horizon|James Hilton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1432440004s/2978.jpg|1180015]) in Dutch New Guinea near the end of WWII. Faced with limited food and serious injuries, not to mention the perils of the jungle, the survivors must find a way to get rescued or face travel over hundreds of miles of dense forest show more filled with warring natives and Japanese in hiding. Once they were discovered missing, the U.S. military had to find them, and figure out how to get them back under extremely perilous circumstances.

Zuckoff has done his research, including recently discovered journals, military accounts, a visit to the crash site, and interviews with many participants (and family members). He writes an interesting story, sticking to the facts, giving enough background to set the context without ever straying too far afield. I cared about the people and was interested to find out what happened to them. He also honors those who died. The numerous historical photos were a bonus.

My favorite parts:
• The development of the relationship between the native people, rumored to be hostile, and the survivors and soldiers – their interactions could have gone awry very easily
• The anthropological information about these isolated native people, what their lives were like, how they viewed the outsiders, why they acted as they did – this was all based on research and interviews with the native people involved – I found it fascinating
• The ingenuity and creative thinking employed throughout the rescue attempt

Content includes descriptions of painful injuries, death, and rituals surrounding tribal warfare. Recommended to those with an interest in anthropology, the history of WWII, or stories of survival under extreme conditions. show less