Hiroo Onoda, 1974, After WWII spends 30 years hiding in the jungles of the Philippines. Finally emerges wearing a coconut fiber uniform, as his old one had long since rotted away.
Poon Lim, 1942, stuck on raft in the south Atlantic Sea for 133 days.
Steven Callahan, 1982, adrift on a life raft in the Atlantic with only 8 pints of water and 3 lbs of food. Drifted for 76 days and over 1800 miles of Ocean until he was rescued in the Bahamas.
The Crew of the Commerce, 1815-17, US sailors marched across the Sahara after enslaved by Bedouins. One man tried to eat his own arm and others drank camel urine.
Aaron Ralston, 2003, hiker traps his arm while climbing down Blue John Canyon in Utah. After 5 days he frees himself by amputating his arm with a blunt knife.
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, 1972, plane carrying 45 people crashes into the Andes. Resorting to cannibalism they endure 72 days in mountains. 15 survived.
Ernest Shackleton, 1914, Atlantic explorers abandon ship and live on ice before mounting a 16 day 800 mile crossing of the ocean.
John McCain, 1967, Senator John McCain survived 5 and a half years in Hoa Lo Prison during Vietnam war. Both arms and a leg broken, bayoneted and beaten by North Vietnamese army. Spends two years in solitary confinement and he refuses to go when released while other captured before him remained in captivity.
Douglas Mawson, 1912, Antarctic explorer loses companions during expedition and spends 30 days covering 100 miles before finding a rescue party.
John Colter, 1808, captured by Blackfeet Indians and stripped naked. He becomes the subject of a manhunt and manages to escape.
Leonid Rogozov, 1960, stationed on the Antarctic Russian performed operation on himself after showing signs of appendicitis.
Slavomir Rawicz, 1940, escapes from Siberian gulag and marches over 4,000 miles on foot across frozen tundra, Gobi desert, through Tibet over Himalayan Mountains to British India.
Shin Dong-Hyuk, 2005, escapes from a prison camp in North Korea. Crawls over his partner who died, through an electric fence to freedom.
1st Marine Division, 1950, Chosin Reservoir Marines fight a grueling battle in a retreat with over 100,000 Chinese soldiers in North Korea and survive. Forces not only broke out of the encircling Chinese army’s trap but inflicted crippling losses to the Chinese.
Alexander Selkirk, 1704-09, gets stranded on an island and this Scottish sailor spent his time reading the bible and ultimately survived his stay on the island.
Hugh Glass, 1823, mauled by a bear and left for dead he crawls for six months and 100 miles before reaching safety.
Joe Simpson, 1985, breaks leg attempting to climb the Siula Grande. Crawls 5 miles in three days and survives.
Juliane Koepche, 1971, teenager survives crash of Lansa Flight 508 and treks through the Peruvian rainforest before being rescued.
Yossi Ghinsber, 1981, gets separated from his travel companions in Bolivian Amazon, he takes 3 weeks wandering alone before being found.
Jon Baalsrud, 1943, sails to Norway and gets ambushed by Nazis. Flees with Nazis’ giving chase. Survives an avalanche, suffering frostbite and snow blindness he makes it over Norwegian Mountains and tundra to safety.
Beck Weathers, 1996, goes on expedition into Mt. Everest and 8 in his party die. Spends 18 hrs in subzero temps before staggering into camp. Suffered severe frostbite, corneal lacerations and hypothermia. Underwent ten surgeries, entire right hand and most of left arm amputated. Survives.
The Donnor Party. Pioneers who in 1846 got trapped by snow in Sierra, Nevada and survived by resorting to cannibalism. 48 out of 87 survived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA4jH37UFhA
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050762/