Lost in the Pacific 1942

Written by Tod Olson and published in 2016, Lost in the Pacific, 1942 is a fictionalized account of the true story of soldiers lost at sea during World War II.

The text begins with a Prologue describing a plane crash that strands the soldiers in the Pacific Ocean. The B-17 transport plane’s pilot, Captain Bill Cherry, plans to land at Canton Island to refuel. However, due to a faulty navigational antenna and a problem with the octant—a compass used by the plane’s navigator, Lieutenant John DeAngelis—the plane overshoots its mark. The plane only has enough fuel for four more hours, and the men must decide how to safely land it in the ocean. This is especially difficult because the waves are choppy. Cherry and his co-pilot, Lieutenant Jim Whittaker, realize they must land in a furrow between the waves. They manage to do so, and the entire crew survives the crash.

The book’s opening chapter provides a backdrop to this scene. The soldiers have been on a top-secret mission, and only the plane’s VIP passenger, Colonel Eddie Rickenbacker, knows what the mission fully entails. Rickenbacker is older than the rest of the crew, and much more distinguished and decorated.