“EIGHT SURVIVED.” The Harrowing Story of the USS Flier and the Only Downed World War II Submariners to Survive and Evade Capture. By Douglas A. Campbell. On the night of August 13, 1944, the submarine USS Flier (SS-250) was on the surface in the Sulu Sea, in the southern Philippines with the boat suddenly struck a mine. The 300-foot sub sank in just 30 seconds—all but fifteen of the more than eighty-strong crew went down with the vessel. Of those left floating in the dark waters, eight survived by swimming for seventeen hours before washing ashore on an uninhabited island. The story of the Flier and its eight survivors is wholly unique in the annals of U.S. military history. Eight Survived tells the gripping story of the doomed submarine and its crew from its first patrol, during which it sank several enemy ships, to the explosion in the Sulu Sea. Drawing on years of research, interviews the survivors themselves and even a visit to the jungle where the men washed ashore—where a cast of fascinating characters helped the U.S. sailors evade the Japanese. Douglas Campbell fully captures the combination of extraordinary courage and luck that marked one of the most heroic episodes of World War II. 2018 Softbound edition, 288 pages, 22 black and white photographs, 2 maps and an index.
Good Cond. $13.88
The Author:
Douglas A. Campbell is the author of The Sea’s Bitter Harvest: Thirteen Deadly Days on the North Atlantic. Previously a longtime reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, he also writes for Soundings magazine. For his first book, Campbell interviewed survivors of the sinking USS Flyer and visited the Philippines location where the sailors washed ashore. Campbell lives near Philadelphia in Beverly, New Jersey.
World War II submarine, USS Flier, sunk in 1944, found
Other books of interest:
Find ‘Em, Chase ‘Em, Sink ‘Em”
