
The natives were known cannibals, but luckily for the crash survivors, they mainly ate their enemy tribe. They soon found themselves in the middle of a modern Stone Age culture still untouched by the outside world. John McCollom was relatively unharmed, but WAC Cpl. The plane carried 24 officers and enlisted women. Army Air Force C-47 nicknamed the “Gremlin Special” crashed into a mountainside in what was then Dutch New Guinea. Unlikely Rescuers On May 13, 1945, a U.S. Photo: USCGLantareapa The Gremlin Special Passengers Make sure to add any I missed in the comments section. Here’s my rundown of the 25 most amazing. But some of these stories, and the people who lived to tell them, stand out among the crowd.

Throughout history there have been plenty of beat-the-odds survival stories that demonstrate the tenacity it takes to stay alive under the absolute worst circumstances.
