Play Book Tag discussion

In November of 1942, a cargo plane belonging to the US crashed into the unforgiving ice of Greenland. A search-and-rescue mission was launched a few days later with brave men on a B-17. The bomber became lost in blizzard conditions and crashed before finding the cargo plane. All 9 men would survive but their ordeal had barely begun. A Grumman duck amphibious plane was launched for a rescue mission and after rescuing one man, it too crashed. The men from the bomber would spend 148 days on the ice cap during the Arctic winter suffering frostbite, starvation, fear and mental fatigue. Once their wreckage had been located supplies were dropped to keep the men alive but a rescue landing was impossible due to the hazardous weather conditions. Eventually a daring rescue was accomplished.

In 2012 a group of adventurers, along with the US Coast Guard, began their own mission to locate the Duck and hopefully return the bodies of those on board back to their families and country. Although in those 70 years between the crashes and the return many improvements had been made in air rescue approaches, it was still a dangerous and daunting task. The author was fortunate to be a member of the group when the wreck of the Duck was located. They were unable to recover the bodies at that time, once again due to weather, and I am not sure if that has happened to date.

Wow. This was an amazingly well told story of bravery and selflessness. It reads like a novel but it is nonfiction: gripping, suspenseful and terrifying. I highly recommend this one.

I have read quite a few of his books, this one was not a favorite, but still it got 3 1/2-4 stars. Glad that you enjoyed it!