Mountaineers Launch Mission To Recover Lost World War II Soldiers

Just after the United States entered World War II in 1942, a military cargo plane crashed in Greenland, stranding the crew on an ice cap in one of the most remote locations on Earth.

Four days later a rescue crew went after them in a B-17 bomber, but that plane also crashed, marooning nine more men in Greenland. A second rescue plane sent by the Coast Guard reached the crew of the B-17, but they disappeared in a storm with three people on board.

The military airplane dropped supplies to the remaining crew until they were rescued about six months later, but the three men lost in the storm were never heard from again. Now, 74 years later, a privately funded group called Global Exploration and Recovery is heading to Greenland in search of the three remaining men.

John Bradley, the company’s president, joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young for a debrief on their upcoming mission to Greenland.

• Read more on this story via KPLU

Guest

• John Bradley, president of Global Exploration and Recovery. The organization tweets @GEaRRaven.

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