The Airmen and the Headhunters

In 1944, as war raged across the globe, an incredible drama unfolded in the remote jungles of Borneo. A US bomber was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, and as the plane went down, the surviving crew ejected and parachuted into the wilderness. Pursued by Japanese soldiers, they were taken in and protected by members of the Dayak tribe — the so-called “wild men of Borneo,” who were infamous for their grisly custom of hunting and smoking enemy heads.

The Dayaks fed and protected the airmen until, months later, they were found by an eccentric British special ops officer, Major Tom Harrisson, who was fighting a guerrilla war against the Japanese with a band of Australian commandoes. Harder to believe than a fictional Hollywood thriller, their true tale is one of courage, survival, and compassion from the most unlikely sources. Actor Liev Schreiber narrates.