The Greatest Search and Rescue Stories Ever Told

The Greatest Search and Rescue Stories Ever Told
Author: Tom McCarthy
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-08-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1493039660

From the early years of Western Expansion to the present day, our history is marked by the heroic exploits of the rescuer and the rescued in some of the most daunting geographic, meteorological, and otherwise life-threatening challenges. "First responders" have variously been members of law enforcement to ordinary good samaritans who couldn't look the other way in the face of their brethren in peril. This book collects the most compelling search-and-rescue accounts of the last two hundred years, from William Lewis Manly bringing relief to '49ers lost in Death Valley, to modern-day SAR teams working with the National Park and Forest Services to locate missing hikers or carry out the injured from a wilderness mishap. Of course, many search-and-rescues turn into a body recovery effort, or even a criminal investigation if foul play is suspected. Regardless of the outcome, this book honors those who put others' lives before their own in the face of peril.

The Greatest Coast Guard Rescue Stories Ever Told

The Greatest Coast Guard Rescue Stories Ever Told
Author: Tom McCarthy
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2017-08-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1493027034

Exciting rescue stories on the high seas! The Coast Guard’s rescue personnel are second to none, and Coast Guard air and sea rescue missions have been the subjects of celebrated newspaper accounts, books, and movies, including The Perfect Storm. The Coast Guard is one of the nation's five military services, which exist to defend and preserve the United States. In The Greatest Coast Guard Rescue Stories Ever Told, the editor has pulled together some of the finest writings about air and sea rescues that capture readers imaginations, culled from books, magazines, and elsewhere. It is an unforgettable collection, and includes stories by Kathryn Miles, Eric Hartlep, Gerald Hoover, Martha Laguardia-Kotite, Geoffrey D. Reynolds, Kalee Thompson, H. Paul Jeffers, and many others.

Deadliest Sea

Deadliest Sea
Author: Kalee Thompson
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2011-06-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0061766305

Soon after 2:00 a.m. on Easter morning 2008, the fishing trawler Alaska Ranger began taking on water in the middle of the frigid Bering Sea. While the first mate broadcast Mayday calls to a remote Coast Guard station more than eight hundred miles away, the men on the ship’s icy deck scrambled to inflate life rafts and activate beacon lights. By 4:30 a.m., most of the forty-seven crew members were in the water. Many knew that if they weren’t rescued soon, they would drown or freeze to death. Two Coast Guard helicopter rescue teams were woken up in the middle of the night to save the crew of the Alaska Ranger. Many of the men thought the mission would be routine. They were wrong. The helicopter teams battled snow squalls, enormous swells, and gale-force winds as they tried to fulfill one guiding principle: save as many as possible. Deadliest Sea is a daring and mesmerizing adventure tale that chronicles the power of nature against man. Veteran journalist Kalee Thompson recounts the harrowing stories of both the rescuers and the rescued while paying tribute to the courage, tenacity, and skill of the dedicated people who risk their lives for the lives of others.

Leave No Man Behind

Leave No Man Behind
Author: George Galdorisi
Publisher: Zenith Press
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780760323922

The history of a near-century of combat search and rescue, with an account of how the discipline was created and how it is administered—or neglected—today.

Rescue at the Top of the World

Rescue at the Top of the World
Author: Shawn T. Shallow
Publisher: Paradise Cay Publications
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2005-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780939837656

Winter came early to the Arctic in 1897. Frigid temperatures brought pack ice that filled the waters north of the Bering Strait. As a result, virtually the entire North American whaling fleet was trapped, stranding 300 men to die of starvation and exposure. Three escaping ships raised the alarm. Answering the call, three officers from the early U.S. Coast Guard and two missionaries volunteered to travel over 1,500 miles through the Arctic winter to reach the shipwrecked whalers. The rescuers' perilous four-month journey, through mountainous territory and barren sub-zero landscapes never before traversed, was fraught with blizzards, wolves, steep terrain, unstable ice, hunters, and bone-piercing cold. Unaware that a rescue team was on the way, the shipwrecked men endured freezing temperatures, malnutrition, and scurvy before falling into general lawlessness. Their struggles and those of the rescuers are meticulously recreated here from century-old journals. This extraordinary chronicle of hardship and heroism will take you to the heart of one of America's greatest maritime disasters-and the greatest Arctic rescue story in history. "]€]a fascinating, almost unbelievable story that should find an audience among those interested in maritime history, rescue tales and life in the Alaskan territory." Publishers Weekly

Rescue Warriors

Rescue Warriors
Author: David Helvarg
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2009-05-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0312363729

Presents a history of the United States Coast Guard along with information on the daily lives of the "Coasties" who respond to distress calls and save lives each day.

Greatest Escape Stories Ever Told

Greatest Escape Stories Ever Told
Author: Darren Brown
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2006-06-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1461748755

To reach freedom, the most famous escapers of all time have been willing to endure the most horrific conditions—and the direst consequences if caught. The collection of tales in The Greatest Escape Stories Ever Told is gripping as only true life-and-death struggles can be: Papillon fighting through the jungles of Guiana only to commit himself to the open ocean in a sixteen-foot boat rather than face a life in exile; Rocky Gause dodging bullets as he swims through shark-infested waters to escape the Japanese at Bataan, while those around him simply quit; Latude battling against the dreaded Bastille; Baron Trenck—with chains covering almost every inch of his body—digging and digging to free himself from wrongful imprisonment; Andre Devigny, so weak from starvation and poor treatment that he could barely lift himself, shimmying across a rope only yards above a German sentry during World War II on the eve of his execution. These are just a few of the twenty-five bold and ingenious tales of escape included in this collection. The Greatest Escape Stories Ever Told will hold readers captive for years to come!

The Greatest Medal of Honor Stories Ever Told

The Greatest Medal of Honor Stories Ever Told
Author: Tom McCarthy
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2018-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1493031732

In The Greatest Medal of Honor Stories Ever Told, editor Tom McCarthy has pulled together some of the finest writings about heroes awarded the highest military honor that capture readers imaginations. The one thing the heroes in this collection have in common—from the bloody battlefields of the Civil War through the lonely mountains of Afghanistan—is uncommon valor. Each of the men in these stories had the courage to calmly stare death in the face and move on—to do what they had to because that was their duty and the lives of others meant more to them than their own. Chosen from hundreds of accounts of singular devotion to duty, the stories in Medal of Honor stand out for their jaw-dropping tales of bravery. They are the best. No small feat.

Rescue in the Pacific: A True Story of Disaster and Survival in a Force 12 Storm

Rescue in the Pacific: A True Story of Disaster and Survival in a Force 12 Storm
Author: Tony Farrington
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
Total Pages: 310
Release: 1998-03-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780071398909

In June of 1994 a dangerous "bomb" storm caught dozens of cruising sailors by surprise as they voyaged north from New Zealand. This is the true story of how nine yachts struggled to survive the hurricane-like conditions. Boats were battered by fierce winds and capsized by seas towering well over 50 feet high. Equipment was ripped loose, and water penetrated every weak point. Masts collapsed, rudders broke, and sailors lost steering control when they needed it most. The crews coped as best they could with injury, fear, exhaustion, and illness. Their electronic calls for help were picked up by satellites and radio operators, who initiated a massive air and sea search. This is the story of heroic rescues, human endurance, and tragic loss.

Saving Bravo

Saving Bravo
Author: Stephan Talty
Publisher: Mariner Books
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 1328866726

At the height of the Vietnam War, Lt. Colonel Gene Hambleton's memory was filled with highly classified information that the Soviets and North Vietnamese badly want. When Hambleton was shot down in the midst of North Vietnam's Easter Offensive, US forces placed the entire war on hold to save a single man hiding amongst 30,000 enemy troops and tanks. After other missions fail, Navy SEAL Thomas Norris and his Vietnamese guide, Nguyen Van Kiet, volunteer to go in on foot. Talty describes the riveting story of one of the greatest rescue missions in the history of the Special Forces. -- adapted from jacket