The Raft: Three Men, 34 Days, and a Thousand Miles Adrift (Uncommon Valor)

The Raft, the subject of the 2014 movie Against the Sun, recounts the harrowing adventures of three downed US Navy airmen Harold Dixon, Tony Pastula, and Gene Aldrich in the Pacific Ocean during World War Two. The men, forced to ditch their plane after running out of fuel, were then confined to a 4 foot by 8 foot rubber raft for 34 days at sea, with no food or water (apart from what they could catch or trap), and no protection from the relentless tropical sun and long nights. The men finally reached a small inhabitated island where they stayed for 7 days before a U.S. warship arrived. Their story is a powerful testament of courage and leadership under extreme conditions. Includes four pages of photographs.