The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

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Penguin, Sep 2, 2008 - History - 336 pages
The astonishing, never-before-told story of the greatest rescue mission of World War II—when the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia.

“An amazing, riveting tale of unsung heroes who went above and beyond.”—James Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers


During a bombing campaign over Romanian oil fields, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian farmers and peasants risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers while they waited for rescue, and in 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks were incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to construct a landing strip large enough for C-47 cargo planes—without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without endangering the villagers. And the cargo planes had to make it through enemy airspace and back—without getting shot down themselves.
 
Classified for over half a century for political reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and bravery is now being told for the first time ever. The Forgotten 500 is the gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the greatest escape of World War II.
 

Contents

Introduction
xi
Well Get Them Out
1
Abandon Ship
10
Counting Parachutes
26
Americanski?
37
Long Journey to Somewhere
59
Escaping Yugoslavia
79
Passports Please
99
Goats Milk and Hay Bread
168
An AllAmerican Team
183
SOS Waiting for Rescue
189
Sure to Be a Rough Landing
199
Red Red Red
213
Going Home Shoeless
225
Gales of the World
240
Secrets and Lies
267

Man of the Year
113
Abandoned Ally
129
Screw the British
147
Epilogue
274
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Gregory A. Freeman is an award-winning writer and a leader in the field of narrative nonfiction. Known for books that make a true story read like a gripping, fast-paced novel, his works include The Forgotten 500, The Gathering WindSailors to the EndTroubled Water, and The Last Mission of the Wham Bam Boys. He lives in the Atlanta area.

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