The Airmen and the Headhunters: A True Story of Lost Soldiers, Heroic Tribesmen and the Unlikeliest Rescue of World War II

Written by Judith M. Heimann

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Nov 26, 2007
• ISBN: 9781400175093

Reviews for The Airmen and the Headhunters

[oregonobsessionz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My father was a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Like the protagonists of this story, he was in the 13th Air Force, 5th Bomber Group, and served in the Pacific Theatre, but he was in the 31st squadron. Of course I had to read this book.This is a fascinating story of the crew of a B-24, who parachuted out of their damaged plane into the mountains of Borneo, after being hit by the Japanese who controlled the coastline. Their silk maps showed only the coastline, and were completely blank in the central highlands. Their jungle guidebook, which had been developed with assistance from Aussies familar with New Guinea, contained such helpful advice as "The jungles are full of edible plants, if one only knows where to look."One of the airmen had heard that the natives of Borneo were headhunters. Soon after they landed, the airmen were discovered by nearly naked men hunting with blowdarts. They were Dayak, who had given up headhunting only 10 years prior. The author describes the difficulty of communicating without a common language, the airmen's adaptation to the jungle, and the eventual arrival of an Australian force determined to drive the Japanese off the island.

[drbubbles_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Absorbing tale of U.S. Army and Navy aircrews who parachuted onto Borneo and were protected from the Japanese army by the indigenes and a functionary from the former Dutch colony. It's a story that has no bearing whatsoever on the history of WW2 other than to illustrate how tendrils of the war reached into geographical pockets with no strategic or tactical value or connections. Also an object lesson in the extent to which "civilized life" depends upon a complex infrastructure, absent which the individual is helpless and their "civilized behavior" no less "ethnic" than any other.

[Ed Hatter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful true story. Amazing tribal people who helped but were treated poorly by the Dutch after the war.

[seoulful · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting account of the rescue of WWII American airmen forced to parachute from their crippled airplanes into the jungles of Northern Borneo. Here they were met by a tribe of Dayaks who had a mere 20 years before been forced by edict to give up headhunting. Before the tale ends they are given permission to engage in the practice once more as they confront the Japanese invaders who had treated the tribe with much brutality. A compelling clash of cultures where both sides part with respect and a changed view of humanity. Written over a period of 10 years by an author with experience in the Borneo area as an American diplomat, the story was pieced together from memoirs and interviews with both the fliers and the native Dayaks. A good addition to the fascinating stories of WWII which continue to make their way into the bookstores.

[Tom Esker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A most unlikely true story. You couldn't make up fictional characters as colorful as the main characters in this book. The book tells the story of airmen who bale out obee Borneo their B24 is shot down and the storybook the natives who saved them and helped fight the Japanese. A bit long winded and challenging to keep up with the many new characters introduced throughout the book, I would still highly recommend. Am also going to check out the 2012 PBS episode of Secrets of the Dead also called The Airmen and the Headhunters.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Audio book narrated by Susan Ericksen
3.5***

The book is subtitled: A True Story of Lost Soldiers, Heroic Tribesmen and the Unlikeliest Rescue of World War II.

In November 1944 a B-24 bomber went down in the jungles of Borneo. When the surviving airmen cut themselves loose from their parachutes they were scattered over miles of the island’s mountainous interior. They were not alone for long, however. Soon loincloth-wearing natives found them and communicated by gesture that they were willing to help these strange men who fell from the sky. The airmen had little choice but to trust that what they had heard about the “headhunters and wild men of Borneo” was false.

The story is a great adventure tale, and would make a wonderful novel. But it is completely true. The airmen were fed, clothed and housed by the natives; more importantly, they were hidden from the Japanese patrols despite threats of harm to the natives who defied the occupying Japanese troops.

I was attracted to the book because in this month of Veteran’s Day I wanted to read something that would reflect on my father’s service in WW2. He spent 33 months in the Pacific, and frequently talked about the various indigenous tribes people who helped them on various islands. The only “souvenir” he brought back was a spear from New Guinea.

Susan Ericksen does an adequate job narrating this tale of war, but I found her vocal quality just “not quite right” for this kind of tale. I’m sure that was because I so loved Edward Herrmann’s reading of Unbroken. Neither is Heimann so skilled at crafting a suspenseful tale of survival as is Hillenbrand. Maybe that is an unfair comparison, but there you have it.