Pinoys in Shangri La

I had noticed a book about a World War II rescue called "Lost in Shangri La" on the best seller lists, but since it hasn't hit our used book kiosk, I didn't know much about it.

But I am listening today to lectures at the Historical society of Virginia, which included this lecture by the author of the book.

Podcast here, and there is a video at the link

After the plane crashed, who was sent in to rescue the survivors? A group of Filipino Americans who were experts at jungle survival happened to be at the base, under (of course) an American officer volunteered for the rescue, and the group who went in to help included Benjamin Bulatao (aka "doc", a medic) and Rammy Ramirez, also a medic and survivor of the Bataan death march.

Photo of the main characters in the book can be found at this link...

 And here is an excerpt of the epilogue.and includes the various characters in the rescue:

The survivors, pilots, paratroopers, and, in Margaret’s lap, Peggy the pig, after the rescue from Shangri-La. (Missing: Ken Decker, who was being treated for his injuries when the photo was taken.) (Photo courtesy of C. Earl Walter Jr.)

The FilAm unit is mentioned at the end of this article:

Part of the story is also told in this book "Desperate Journeys" on Google Books.

more links HERE.