On August 13, 1944, the U.S. submarine Flier was steaming along the surface of the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines when it struck a mine. All but 15 of the more than 80 men aboard went down with the vessel. Of those left floating in the dark, only eight survived, swimming for 17 hours before washing ashore on an uninhabited island. They were the only American submariners in World War II to survive the sinking of their ship and evade enemy capture. Douglas Campbell interviewed the survivors and visited the jungle where they landed to tell this story of extraordinary courage and remarkable luck.
"There is more to Campbell's story than the ordeal of these eight men.... We get mostly untold stories of Muslim resistance fighters and American missionaries living in the Philippines, and one surprising account of an American soldier of Philippine descent.... Campbell also shows us the peculiar dangers of Pacific submarine warfare."—Philadelphia Inquirer
