My View--Frozen in Time

An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II

In WWII a secret battle was being waged where Murphy's Law reigned supreme.

In early November, 1942, an American C-53 Skytrooper crash-landed onto Greenland's ice-cap. Captain McDowell, Jr., and his four-man crew survived the impact. Employed in a rescue attempt, a B-17F Flying Fortress bomber, piloted by Lt. Armand Monteverde goes down as well. All nine crew members survive the crash. Soon after, the three-man crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force Douglas A-20 attack bomber goes down on the ice as well. And in a mission to rescue the survivors of the B-17, a Coast Guard Grumman Duck, with pilot John Pritchard and radioman Benjamin Bottoms, disappears into the fog.

A severely doomed search and rescue endeavor ensued for six months. Some of these men survived. Some did not. This is their story, told alongside an account of an incredible modern-day attempt to locate the bodies of the servicemen who are still out there somewhere in the Greenland ice--an attempt to bring them home.

In the words of US Army Col. William S. Carlson, "Nature in Greenland is a mother that devours her own children." Words proven beyond a doubt in this true "man against nature" epic of heroism, survival, loss, and man's own tenacity and ingenuity, skillfully told by journalist Mitchell Zuckoff. Frozen in Time held me breathless, and was so emotionally charged that at times I simply had to set the book aside to take a moment to regroup before continuing on.

This is truly a nightmare of survival and I would highly recommend this to everyone who enjoys true-life adventure or history.