INSPIRING, AROUSING, ENRICHING STORY OF TRAGIC LOSS, WRENCHING RECOVERY,AND PAINFUL IDENTIFICATION OF FIVE BRAVE AMERICAN WWII AVIATORS
Reviewed and Highly, Highly Recommended by Don DeNevi
From Day One of all her wars, America made it clear: the nation will always owe those whoserved militarily to protect her and her people would be owed an additional obligation: tonever forget about them and to never leave them behind, whatever their fate. The nationpromised to ensure, one way or another, that they are brought back to their loved ones. Thecommitment, nay, vow, has been taught via numerous creeds and mottos, including the Armytrooper ethos and the Ranger creed. Writes Honorable Mac Thornberry, Former Chair, USHouse Armed Services Committee, “An individual service member makes this promise to hisbrothers and sisters in arms. And it is a promise made to each of them by the country theyserve, whether the situation calls for a rescue operation or for freeing POWs. The promiseextends beyond the life of the individual service member – – to recover and return remainsshould a life be given in service.”Bill Jordan’s perfectly narrated story of bringing five American airmen home is really aspellbinding page-turner. Us eager-for-unusual WWII story buffs won’t be able to put thishardcover down.“COLD SUN – – The Search for World War II Airmen Lost in a Tibetan Glacier”, by William H.Jordan, Foreword by Mac Thornberry. Texas A & M University Press, College Station, MilitaryHistory Series: 2023, 392 pages, 7¼” x 10¼”, hardcover; $47. Visit, www.tamupress.com.In January 1944, a US Army Air Corps transport, on route to its home base in India, crashed
into a snowfield in Tibet. Because of the remote location and fierce winter weather, the aircraft
was covered by heavy snowfalls. The snowfield glaciated, completely hiding the aircraft until itsaccidental discovery by a Tibetan hunter in 1993. A nearby Chinese army garrison launched animmediate reconnaissance into the crash site and brought out remnants of the airplane andremains of the crew. They then notified the American Embassy in Beijing. Then – ColonelJordan, commander of the US Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, was assigned toinvestigate the crash site and to recover, identify, and repatriate the remains of the fallen USservicemen. What a journey we are privy to! We meet and join the five guys who are fated,sadly, to die. We are present as Bill moves us between the mission of the aircraft, and thathorrible fate, “through the prism of America’s history of identifying and recovering them fortheir families, the efforts over the years, and technological leaps needed to finally accomplishtheir mission, regardless of how heart-breaking and grim. In short, “Cold Sun” pivots us fromour regular WWII reading to a grateful appreciation most of us know nothing, absolutelynothing, about. When we finally close the covers in front of the fireplace, turn the lights off andpull the blankets further up, or sit by a window to watch the rain or snow, we’ll . . . . allow a
tear or two well up.
