In July 1939, 12-year-old Donn Fendler of Rye, New York, became the subject of a massive national search after vanishing on Maine’s Mount Katahdin. His nine-day survival ordeal is one of the most famous stories in Maine’s history.
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| Donn Fendler, 12, of Rye, N.Y., is shown with the sack which he used as a sleeping bag while he wandered for eight days in the wilds of Maine. A Boy Scout, Donn used to good advantage, the wood-lore taught in the organization. Donn disappeared near the shrouded summit on Mount Katahdin. |
On July 17, 1939, Donn was hiking to the 5,267-foot summit of Mount Katahdin with his father, two brothers, and two family friends. Eager to reach the top, Donn surged ahead of his father and brothers. When a sudden, thick mist enveloped the peak, he became disoriented. Ignoring advice to stay put, he attempted to find his way back to his family but instead wandered into the dense, trackless wilderness.
For nine days, Donn wandered approximately 80 to 100 miles through the Maine woods. He survived by recalling his father’s advice and Boy Scout training, he followed small streams downhill, knowing they would eventually lead to a river and civilization. He subsisted on wild strawberries and checkerberries.
Donn lost his shoes, trousers, and shirt while attempting to cross a stream, eventually wandering barefoot. He slept in a large burlap sack he found to stay warm during freezing nights. He encountered black bears, deer, and relentless swarms of insects and leeches.
On July 25, 1939, Donn spotted a telephone line and followed it to a remote hunting camp near Stacyville, Maine. He was dehydrated, covered in bug bites, and had lost 16 pounds, but was otherwise remarkably unharmed.
His survival was front-page news across the U.S.. President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded him the Army & Navy Legion of Valor’s medal for outstanding youth hero of 1939. Donn co-authored the book Lost on a Mountain in Maine (1939), which became a staple of Maine school curriculums for generations. He served as a Green Beret in the U.S. Army during WWII and the Vietnam War, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He died in 2016 at the age of 90.
In 2024, his story was adapted into a feature film titled Lost on a Mountain in Maine, produced by Sylvester Stallone.
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