Lost in the Pacific: Epic Firsthand Accounts of WWII Survival Against Impossible Odds

by L. Douglas Keeney (Editor)

Overview

The minute a plane ditched in the ocean, a clock started ticking - and it ticked fast.

They were young, but not frivolous. They were battle hardened pilots, but not without soft spots in their hearts for home. They were scared, but not without courage. Presenting the true, never-before-published stories of American pilots and airmen shot down in WWII combat and now lost in the ocean struggling to survive until their rescuers arrived. Each story is told by the men themselves, pilots and airmen who came to the Pacific eager to hunt Japs and end the war. But then they were shot down and now they were alone - lost at sea - facing an unrelenting sun and storm tossed waves The trick, they say, was to survive. One pilot spent 20 days in a small raft and survived by eating the partially digested fish he cut out of the stomach of an albatross. One pilot landed on an island and was picked up by native guerillas and had to blow up a Japanese bridge on his way out. Another narrowly escaped the attack of an alligator, another survived alone at night bobbing in the ocean with only his head above the water.
These are the incredible-but-true stories of survival in the Pacific told by the young men of our Greatest Generation. They are inspiring, harrowing, but also laced with honor and duty. Indeed, even after their incredible ordeals, when they got back to their units, they had but one request. To get back into the air.

But first, they sat down and wrote these accounts.

"I was inspired to create this book partly by Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken, and partly by the stunning images in the movie "Life of Pi." When I found these first person accounts I realized that both of these incredible stories had come to life in new and unexpected ways."

L. Douglas Keeney
Author
The Lights of Mankind

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619331204
Publisher:	FastPencil, Inc.
Publication date:	04/24/2014
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

L. Douglas Keeney has a master's degree from the University of Southern California and is a military historian and researcher. He is the cofounder of The Military Channel, on which he hosted the series Gun Camera. He has also appeared on The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, CBS, and Fox in the Morning. The author or coauthor of 12 books on military history, Mr. Keeney is a pilot and a scuba diver and has visited many of the World War II sites mentioned in this book. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Why Lost? v

Introduction: Air-Sea Rescue in World War II xi

Chapter 1 32 Days 1

Chapter 2 It Was a Friendly, Full Moon 13

Chapter 3 B-29 Down (the First B-29 to Ditch in World War II) 25

Chapter 4 Whistle in the Night 39

Chapter 5 A Cool Head in a Rubber Boat 43

Chapter 6 Enemy Tactics 49

Chapter 7 Fox Tare Charlie 53

Chapter 8 142 Survivors 65

Chapter 9 Survival Stories of Bombing Seven 69

Chapter 10 Dumbo Takes a Hit 77

Chapter 11 Skimming the Waves 79

Chapter 12 Eleven Days in a One-Man Raft 83

Chapter 13 Footprints on the Beach 113

Chapter 14 Dynamite a Bridge on the Way Out 119

Chapter 15 The English Channel 125

Chapter 16 Surrounded in Hostile Waters 137

Chapter 17 Ditching an A-20 143

Chapter 18 One Man's Day 147

Chapter 19 The American Coastwatchers 151

Chapter 20 The Slot 159

Chapter 21 Carrier Pilot Down 163

Chapter 22 Evasion in Enemy Waters 169

Chapter 23 A Ship in The Night 173

Glossary of Terms Used in the Book 177

Index 181

About the Author 193