You Are Not Forgotten: The Story of a Lost WWII Pilot and a Twenty-First-Century Soldier’s Mission to Bring Him Home

In 1944 Major Marion "Ryan" McCown Jr., an earnest young Marine Corps pilot, came under attack by enemy fire and went down with his plane, lost to the dense jungle of Papua New Guinea. Some sixty years later, Major George Eyster V would find himself in the same sweltering and nearly impenetrable rain forest searching for evidence of MIAs. Coming from a long line of military officers dating back to the Revolutionary War, army service was Eyster's family legacy. After a disillusioning tour of duty in Iraq and almost ending his army career, he accepts a posting to JPAC instead, an elite division whose sole mission is to bring all fallen soldiers home to the country for which they gave their lives. While Eyster's search for McCown proves difficult, what emerges at the end of the unforgettable mission is an inspiring true tale of loss and redemption.

Bryan Bender is the national security reporter for The Boston Globe and president of the Military Reporters and Editors Association. He has covered U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and the Balkans. He also writes about terrorism, the international arms trade, and government secrecy.