Vanished, Wil S. Hylton
Vanished, Wil S. Hylton
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Vanished
The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II

Author: Wil S. Hylton

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Unabridged: 9 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 11/05/2013

Synopsis

In the fall of 1944, a massive American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the Pacific islands of Palau, leaving a trail of mysteries. According to mission reports from the Army Air Forces, the plane crashed in shallow water-- but when investigators went to find it, the wreckage wasn't there. Witnesses saw the crew parachute to safety, yet the airmen were never seen again. Some of their relatives whispered that they had returned to the United States in secret and lived in hiding. But they never explained why. For sixty years, the U.S. government, the children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and scuba divers searched the islands for clues. They trolled the water with side-scan sonar, conducted grid searches on the seafloor, crawled through thickets of mangrove and poison trees, and flew over the islands in small planes to shoot infrared photography. With every clue they found, the mystery only deepened. Now, in a spellbinding narrative, Wil S. Hylton weaves together the true story of the missing men, their final mission, the families they left behind, and the real reason their disappearance remained shrouded in secrecy for so long. This is a story of love, loss, sacrifice, and faith-- of the undying hope among the families of the missing, and the relentless determination of scientists, explorers, archaeologists, and deep-sea divers to solve one of the enduring mysteries of World War II.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Andy on November 01, 2013

This was an amazing, gripping, and at times suspenseful read that documents one man's sudden overwhelming desire to find out what happened to three B-24 Liberators shot down near Palau in the Pacific theater of World War II. Hylton does a great job of describing Pat Scannon's current-day journey of......more

Goodreads review by Paul on January 31, 2014

Actual rating: 3.5. I heard an interview with the author on NPR. I'm interested in the Pacific bombing campaigns of WWII, and had read Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken last year, so I knew right away I'd want to read this one too. As soon as I could get to my desktop computer I ran a Google search for "W......more

Goodreads review by Pat on March 03, 2014

I couldn't put this book down - it is am amazing story of one man's quest to find airmen missing during WW2 in the waters off a small island in Micronesia . It is also the story of the devastating grief families go through when their loved ones are never found. I highly recommend it......more

Goodreads review by Mike on November 03, 2013

I was lucky to get an early copy of this book, and can't say enough about it. Taut, tragic, thrilling--it unfolds like a mystery and ghost story. Hylton is an unparalleled storyteller, and a deep-diving reporter, who's returned with a story of a lifetime here. For years, I've followed his work in ma......more

Goodreads review by Sweetwilliam on April 25, 2016

I think most people will find this story interesting. Whether you are WWII air war historian, lover of 1940’s nostalgia, a diver, archeologist, or someone interested in the POW recovery story, you will find something of interest in this book. This was a good story and a nice read. Vanished is a testa......more

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