Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II

Mitchell Zuckoff

Apr 2013 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A gripping true story of survival, bravery, and honor in the vast Arctic wilderness during World War II, from Mitchell Zuckoff, the author of New York Times bestseller Lost in Shangri-La

On November 5, 1942, a US cargo plane slammed into the Greenland Ice Cap. Four days later, the B-17 assigned to the search-and-rescue mission became lost in a blinding storm and also crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on board survived, and the US military launched a daring rescue operation. But after picking up one man, the Grumman Duck amphibious plane flew into a severe storm and vanished.

Frozen in Time tells the story of these crashes and the fate of the survivors, bringing vividly to life their battle to endure 148 days of the brutal Arctic winter, until an expedition headed by famed Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen brought them to safety. Mitchell Zuckoff takes the reader deep into the most hostile environment on earth, through hurricane-force winds, vicious blizzards, and subzero temperatures.

Moving forward to today, he recounts the efforts of the Coast Guard and North South Polar Inc.—led by indefatigable dreamer Lou Sapienza—who worked for years to solve the mystery of the Duck’s last flight and recover the remains of its crew.

A breathtaking blend of mystery and adventure Mitchell Zuckoff's Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II is also a poignant reminder of the sacrifices of our military personnel and a tribute to the everyday heroism of the US Coast Guard.

Ratings and reviews

Today, there is a regular commercial flight that is almost 19 hours and a Boeing 777-200LR has flown 23 hours non-stop. With that, it’s easy for us to forget that when the US was ferrying supplies and planes to Europe early in its entry into WW II, you couldn’t just fly across. They had to make refueling stops in Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland before reaching Britain. And, it was a dangerous journey, especially over Greenland. You likely know Iceland is green and fertile while Greenland is basically a huge glacier greater than the state of Alaska. The weather is harsh and highly changeable. In addition, there was no GPS, communication was limited, and guidance was still relatively primitive. Though military policy was to expend every effort to rescue its men, the land was so vast and the environment so difficult, many crashes were never found and rescue attempts often failed. On November 5, 1942, a US cargo plane crashed on Greenland’s ice cap. A search and rescue mission was quickly dispatched with a vast area to search. Four days later, a brand new B-17 on its way to Europe that was waylaid to join the search crashed in a blinding storm with 9 men on board, all of whom miraculously survived. The crash site was not found for several weeks and was in a very difficult-to-reach area with many dangerous deep crevasses with winter strengthening. Supplies were dropped and various attempts were made but time kept getting drawn out and the weather grew increasingly worse. There were few options but a Coast Guard vessel in the area launched a daring rescue operation with a small amphibious plane nicknamed the Grumman Duck that was lowered from the ship into the water for takeoff. It was able to belly land on the glacier, rescue two of the survivors, and return to the ship. It came again the next day with a storm rapidly approaching, took another severely injured man, but then crashed somewhere between there and the ship. Its wreckage was eventually spotted by another plane, but it was clear that the three men on board could not possibly have survived and the focus was returned to the B-17. "Frozen in Time" is actually two stories. The first is a tale of the B-17 survivors and the repeated attempts to rescue them. The second is of a 2012 mission to find and recover the Duck and return the bodies of those aboard to their families. The two crewmen on the plane are the only remaining Coast Guard servicemen missing in action. The B-17 survivors spent 148 days in the brutal Arctic winter before most were rescued (no spoiler since the story this book details could not have been told if there had been no survivors). The crew had no Arctic survival training and almost no supplies. The plane had broken up on landing and they sheltered in the tail section until it began to slowly slide into a deep crevasse. After that, they dug a snow shelter in the ice under one of the wings before the tail disappeared into the widening gap. Their survival is a harrowing story of jury-rigging, sacrifice, and suffering. Lives were lost in multiple rescue attempts involving another plane landing near the site, a team on a motorized sled, and dog sleds. The story keeps you riveted and wondering what could possibly happen next. In 2012, the Coast Guard and a private rescue organization, North South Polar, worked together to search for the Duck. Though the wreckage had been seen in 1942, there was no way to mark the site, and recording locations was not a precise undertaking resulting in several conflicting “locations.” Making it even harder is the fact that glaciers move. Even if we knew the precise 1942 location, 70 years later it could be anywhere in a vast area and covered by 70 years of ice 40 feet deep. The two stories are interwoven and the suspense palpable, particularly the 1942 story. I’d recommend reading when you have a free weekend because it is hard to put down. You don’t know the results of either until the end. If you like suspense, adventure, survival, military stories, or even the 80s TV show McGyver, you will love this.

Such a great book! This story follows the old saying, "truth is stranger than fiction". I couldn't put this book down.

Fascinating, well-written. Great book!

About the author

Mitchell Zuckoff is the Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Narrative Studies at Boston University. He covered 9/11 for the Boston Globe and wrote the lead news story on the day of the attacks. Zuckoff is the author of seven previous works of nonfiction, including the number one New York Times bestseller 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi, which became the basis of the Paramount Pictures movie of the same name. His earlier books also include the New York Times bestsellers Lost in Shangri-La and Frozen in Time. As a member of the Boston Globe Spotlight Team, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting and the winner of numerous national awards. He lives outside Boston.