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

During the early part of America's entrance into World War II, a C-53 cargo plane crashed onto the icy surface of Greenland with five on board. Four days later, a B-17 bomber with nine on board crashed while searching for the C-53. Twenty-four days after that, a U.S. Coast Guard Grumman Duck went down during the second leg of a mission to save the men of the B-17, killing the crew and a B-17 survivor they had just rescued. Zuckoff weaves these crashes into a gripping story of arctic rescue, tracing the harrowing struggle of the crash survivors to stay alive, the desperate attempts to save them, and the terrible conditions that made both nearly impossible. Blended into the historic account is a modern excavation story as Zuckoff joins an expedition to locate and recover the Duck, now buried somewhere deep under the ice of Greenland. It is an engaging and highly narrative historic adventure, whose pace builds steadily and which offers a respectful regard for the various crews—strong willed, stoic, and fiercely determined men who fall back on their faith and sense of duty to carry them through. Detailed, tension-filled, and gripping, this examination of methods of rescue and survival vividly places readers on the ice with the lost men and alongside those trying to save them.