Lost in Shangri-La: Escape from a Hidden World - A True Story

Lost in Shangri-La: Escape from a Hidden World - A True Story
MItchell Zuckoff

An utterly gripping non-fiction adventure narrative, 'Lost in Shangri-La' is an untold true story of war, anthropology, survival, discovery, heroism, and a near-impossible rescue mission.Three months before the end of World War II, a U.S. Army plane flying over New Guinea’s Baliem Valley crashed in uncharted mountains inhabited by a Stone Age tribe. Nineteen passengers and crew were killed and two were mortally wounded. But somehow three survived: a lieutenant whose twin brother died in the crash, a sergeant who suffered terrible head wounds, and a beautiful member of the Women's Army Corps.Hurt, unarmed and afraid, they prayed for deliverance - from their wounds, from the elements, and from the spear-carrying, Dani tribesmen who roamed the mountains, men who were untouched by modernity. For seven weeks, the survivors experienced one remarkable adventure after another, until they were rescued in a truly incredible mission.Rounding out the true-life cast is a rogue filmmaker who’d left Hollywood after being exposed as a jewel-thief; a smart-alek pilot who flew best when his plane had no engine, and a cowboy colonel whose rescue plan seemed designed to increase the death toll. Using a huge range of sources, including first hand accounts from the survivors themselves, Mitchell Zukoff exposes the enlightening and terrifying adventure of three individuals lost on uncharted soil and the relationships they built not only with each other, but also with a lost civilization.

MITCHELL ZUCKOFF

Lost in Shangri-La

Escape from a Hidden World

A TRUE STORY

For Gerry

Contents

Cover (#ua0f5b8c5-4bba-5358-aa24-7f26760da4aa)

Title Page (#ue5c1b332-e63d-5386-8368-de75e217e3c4)

A Note to the Reader

A Note on the Text

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1 - Missing

Chapter 2 - Hollandia

Chapter 3 - The Hidden Valley of Shangri-La

Chapter 4 - Gremlin Special

Chapter 5 - Eureka!

Chapter 6 - Charms

Chapter 7 - Tarzan

Chapter 8 - Gentleman Explorer

Chapter 9 - Guilt and Gangrene

Chapter 10 - Earl Walter, Junior and Senior

Chapter 11 - Uwambo

Chapter 12 - ‘Chief Pete’

Chapter 13 - Come What May

Chapter 14 - Five-by-Five

Chapter 15 - No Supper Tonight

Chapter 16 - Rammy and Doc

Chapter 17 - Custer and Company

Chapter 18 - Bathtime for Yugwe

Chapter 19 - ‘Shoo, Shoo Baby’

Chapter 20 - Hold the Front Page!

Chapter 21 - Promised Land

Chapter 22 - Hollywood

Chapter 23 - Gliders?

Chapter 24 - Two Queens

Chapter 25 - Snatch

Epilogue After Shangri-La

Cast of Characters

The Filipino Regiments

Notes on Sources and Methods

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Mitchell Zuckoff

Copyright

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)