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"THE AIRMEN AND THE HEADHUNTERS"
by Judith M. Heimann
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Called "the unlikeliest rescue of World War II," this is a true story of lost airmen and heroic tribesmen deep in the jungles of Borneo. It is a story of deep human interest--it will grab both male and female alike! It is one not to be forgotten. Written by a woman who spent seven years living in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillippines, including two in Borneo, she interviewed all living major players.
The author is also a career diplomat which likely accounts for her perceptive skills in seeing and reporting this story. Anyone who devotes this much time to research and writing deserves to be read! Written some sixty years after the events, it makes us wonder how many more stories are still out there--- about THE BIG ONE.
Amazon states: "November 1944: Army airmen set out in a B-24 bomber on what should have been an easy mission off the Borneo coast. Instead they found themselves unexpectedly facing a Japanese fleet---and were shot down. When they cut themselves loose from their parachutes, they were scattered across the island's mountainous interior. Then a group of loincloth-wearing natives silently materialized out of the jungle.
Would the tribesmen turn the starving airmen over to the hostile Japanese occupiers? Or would the Dayaks risk vicious reprisals to get the airmen safely home? The tribal leaders' unprecedented decision led to a game of hide-and-seek and, ultimately, to the return of a long-renounced ritual: the triumphant and bloody taking of heads.
A climactic survival story that features a bamboo airstrip built on a rice paddy, a mad British major, and a blowpipe-wielding army that helped destroy one of the last Japanese strongholds. "THE AIRMEN AND THE HEADHUNTERS" is a gripping, you-are-there journey into the remote world and forgotten heroism of the Dayaks." (Order from Amazon.)
("A riveting book!"---MIL)
"WHERE THE PAVEMENT ENDS" by Erika Warmbrunn
("One Woman's Bicycle Journey Through Mongolia, China, and Vietnam")
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In my lifetime of reading many hundreds of books, this one really grabbed me! It has to rank high in my "TOP" list. Imagine going off to a far country alone and fending for yourself. Imagine not staying in nice accommodations but setting out across country highways and byways with only a good bicycle, a small tent and a backpack---both riding on the back of your bicycle. Imagine having your good days and bad, but having to ride X miles a day, and then finding a place to stay for the night, preferring to sleep on someone's floor, rather than in the tent. Imagine doing all this---if you were a lady. And then---there's the food problem...
Erika Warmbrunn, age twenty-seven, lived in Seattle, but was not pleased with her progress as an actress. She chucked it all and of all things---embarked on an eight month solo bicycle trip through Mongolia, China, and Vietnam. On her journey she met all manner of people, often invited to spend the night and even sleep in the same beds with them. The people in a Mongolian village fell for her, built her a "ger," (a round tent- dwelling) and she spent some months teaching English in their school.
She was awed by the Great Wall of China and enjoyed her time hanging out with other young travelers and back-packers. By the time she reached Vietnam (from Irkutsk in Siberia to Saigon---5000 miles,) she was physically and mentally exhausted. She has left us with a splendid insight into peoples of other nations; she seemed to have preferred the Mongolians most of all.
One reviewer stated; "a thoughtful, honest, and insightful writing about the cross-cultural experience...a fine addition to public libraries; highly recommended."
("A great book!"---MIL)
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BY MIL
5/02/13
Sent from my iPad
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