The cliché says that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. The well researched and documented true story in this book proves it.
Just eight days after Victory is declared in Europe for World War II, while the war is nearing its end in the Pacific, what was to be a three hour flight to see a real life “Shagri-La,” the Baliem Valley, with 24 passengers from the Army base in Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, ended in tragedy.
John and Robert McCollom, inseperable twin brothers who were both lieutenants, Margaret Hastings, a corporal in the Women’s Army Corps, Tech Sergeant Kenneth Decker, and Laura Besley, a WAC sergeant, were among the 24 who left the base excited to see the hidden valley, but when their plane hit the side of a mountain, they didn’t all survive.
This book recounts the amazing story of the three lonely survivors of that crash, the paratroopers who came to their aid, the natives they encountered and the “incredible” rescue that eventually ensued.
Most of the time this book reads like an investigative report: something akin to the voice over as images are shown on a news show such as Dateline or 20/20. And thankfully there are plenty of images – real photos taken by the participants in this harrowing drama.
Zuckoff, at times, is a bit of a show off in how thorough his research was. The tangents that flesh out the story and fill the reader in on the details of the history surrounding the event and the personal stories of each of the major players provide depth, but also interrupt the flow of the narrative at some important moments.
There is enough humor and hope to balance it out though. Some of the things that actually happened would be unbelievable if they weren’t taken directly from the diaries kept by the actual participants.
The reader should not fear the length of the book. Because it is so well researched, the last 45% of the Kindle edition, which would be about 180 pages in the hard copy, is filled with a list of sources, a select bibliography, and an index.
Overall, this was in interestingly informative, entertaining and heart-rending read.