The Airmen and the Headhunters, Judith M. Heimann
The Airmen and the Headhunters, Judith M. Heimann
4 Rating(s)
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The Airmen and the Headhunters
A True Story of Lost Soldiers, Heroic Tribesmen and the Unlikeliest Rescue of World War II

Author: Judith M. Heimann

Narrator: Susan Ericksen

Unabridged: 8 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/26/2007


Synopsis

November 1944: Army airmen set out in a B-24 bomber on what should have been an easy mission off the Borneo coast. Instead they found themselves unexpectedly facing a Japanese fleet—and were shot down. When they cut themselves loose from their parachutes, they were scattered across the island's mountainous interior. Then a group of loincloth-wearing natives silently materialized out of the jungle. Would these Dayak tribesmen turn the starving airmen over to the hostile Japanese occupiers? Or would the Dayaks risk vicious reprisals to get the airmen safely home? The tribal leaders' unprecedented decision led to a desperate game of hide-and-seek and, ultimately, the return of a long-renounced ritual: head-hunting.

A cinematic survival story that features a bamboo airstrip built on a rice paddy, a mad British major, and a blowpipe-wielding army that helped destroy one of the last Japanese strongholds, The Airmen and the Headhunters is a gripping, you-are-there journey into the remote world and forgotten heroism of the Dayaks.


About Judith M. Heimann

Judith M. Heimann is a career diplomat and the author of The Most Offending Soul Alive. She spent seven years living in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and speaks Indonesian. She traveled to three continents and interviewed all the surviving Dayaks and airmen in her research for this book. She lives in Washington, D.C., and Brussels.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kristin on February 03, 2010

I am writing this as a biased reader because my grandfather is one of the lead figures in this book (Phillip Corrin). I hold this book very dear to my heart because it acted as a window into a huge part of his life that I have always been curious about. I do think that most readers will also find thi......more

Goodreads review by Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog on September 27, 2020

What makes Judith Heiman’s The Airmen and the Headhunter worth the read is the depth of her research, including interviews with survivors and their descendants and her tendency to under dramatize what was for the participant very dramatic. By letting the history carry the weight of her account, she......more

Goodreads review by Leonard on July 29, 2008

I read all WWII stories and documentaries I can. My older brother, who has the same obsession, loaned this one to me, given him by his daughter. It is the recently researched and written story of several men who survived a forced parachute jump from their plummeting B-24 bomber. They landed in the c......more

Goodreads review by Ang on February 26, 2014

Superbly written; full of interesting information, cultural detail and solid reference, this story tells not only the tale of lost airmen but also paints a clear picture of life in the remote highlands and the struggles and sacrifices all make to go toward helping fellow man in the truly troubled ti......more