Eight Survived: The Harrowing Story Of The USS Flier And The Only Downed World War II Submariners To Survive And Evade Capture

by Douglas A. Campbell

Overview

The incredible wartime saga of the only American submariners
to survive the sinking of their ship and evade enemy capture in WWII

On the night of August 13, 1944, the U.S. submarine Flier struck a mine in the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines as it steamed along the surface. All but fifteen of the more than eighty-strong crew went down with the vessel. Of those left floating in the dark, eight survived by swimming for seventeen hours before washing ashore on an uninhabited island. The story of the Flier and its eight survivors is wholly unique in the annals of U.S. military history.

Eight Survived tells the gripping story of the doomed submarine and its crew from its first patrol, during which it sank several enemy ships, to the explosion in the Sulu Sea. Drawing on interviews with the survivors and on a visit to the jungle where they washed ashore—where a cast of fascinating characters helped the U.S. sailors evade the Japanese—Douglas Campbell fully captures the combination of extraordinary courage and luck that marked one of the most heroic episodes of World War II.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493032853
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2018
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	283,282
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 9.07(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Douglas A. Campbell is the author of The Sea’s Bitter Harvest: Thirteen Deadly Days on the North Atlantic. Previously a longtime reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, he writes for Soundings magazine. 

Table of Contents

Map of the World War II Career of the USS Flier vi

Chapter 1 Treacherous Passage 1

Chapter 2 Pacific Peril 19

Chapter 3 Missing from Action 35

Chapter 4 A Gathering of Men 41

Chapter 5 A Second Chance 55

Chapter 6 Welcome to the War 67

Chapter 7 Strangers in Their Native Land 87

Chapter 8 The Wages of Winners 100

Chapter 9 Mines and Mariners 112

Chapter 10 Back toward Glory 123

Chapter 11 Trapped in the Path of War 136

Chapter 12 Changed Orders 153

Chapter 13 In the Shadow of Death 166

Chapter 14 Choosing Freedom 178

Chapter 15 Spirits of the Land 193

Chapter 16 By Land and by Sea 203

Chapter 17 Into the Jungle 216

Chapter 18 Escape 230

Map of the Eight Submariners' Survival and Rescue 243

Epilogue 244

Acknowledgments 256

Bibliography 258

Sources 261

Index 269

About the Author 289

Editorial Reviews

"[A] highly emotional account of the brief life of the USS Flier. .. heartbreaking detail. . . [T]here is more to Campbell's story than the ordeal of these eight men.. .. Campbell puts the rescue into a larger context. We get mostly untold stories of Muslim resistance fighters and American missionaries living in the Philippines, and one surprising account of an American soldier of Philippine descent.. .. Campbell also shows us the peculiar dangers of Pacific submarine warfare." —Bill Kent, Philadelphia Inquirer

From the Publisher