Review
There were several noted military attacks that took place as part of World War II combat on May 13, 1945. However, on that very same day, there also occurred a more anonymous incident of devastation that has, until now, slipped by many historians and the world at large.
Author and journalist Mitchell Zuckoff has plucked a diamond of a story out of the rubble of World War II history with his vivid account of the crash of the Gremlin Special, a C-47 transport plane.
Lost in Shangri-La draws on remarkable interviews, journal entries, diaries, and photographs to recount the astonishing tale of three plane crash survivors and their unlikely jungle rescue.
The story literally takes off in Dutch New Guinea where two dozen officers, soldiers, and Women's Army Corp members (WAC's) board the Gremlin Special. The flight isn't a tactical military mission, but rather a...
Beyond the Book
It seems that Tootsie Roll Industries would have little to do with Mitchell Zuckoff's book
Lost in Shangri-La. However, since acquiring the Charms Candy Company in 1988, this business has been the producer of Charms - the very food that provided the Gremlin Special's passengers with enough sustenance to survive in the jungle.
"Breakfast was water and more Charms, still their only food on the third day after the crash," writes Zuckoff. "They separated the candies by color, eating the red ones until they tired of them, moving on to yellow, and so on."
The Charms Candy Company began producing Charms...
