Download or read book 35 Missions to Hell and Back written by Charles J "Chuck" Richardson and published by Page Publishing, Inc. This book was released on 2020-03-07 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-plus years in the writing, and for an additional ten years, this gut-wrenching, heartwarming story has been silently biding its time, awaiting a channel for expression. A compelling story of young boys bound by faith, courage, blood, sweat, and tears, and how that bonding created the brave young men they became. Hopefully, all who read this account will feel the deep emotions of terror, disappointment, frustration, laughter, love, peace, and joy experienced by the author during his service as a radioman/gunner on a B17G during World War II. Some of the stories contained in this manuscript have never been published or made public. Stationed in the European Theater of Operations in Framlingham, England, Mr. Richardson, USAAF, 8th AF, 390th Bomb Group (H), 571st Squadron, was the recipient of numerous major awards and citations, including Distinguished Flying Cross; Air Medal with 4 Oak-Leaf Clusters; 2 Presidential Unit Citations; Russian Medal of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (on behalf of Boris Yeltsin); Certificate in Recognition of Contribution/Service in liberating France and participation in the Invasion of Normandy, signed by French Secretary of Defense John-Pierre Messeret; French Jubilee of Liberty Medal; and French Legion of Honor Medal.
Download or read book Bomb Group written by Paul Bingley and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2022-11-03 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The authors do a good job using the diaries, interviews, and books written by group members to convey a vivid—sometimes too vivid—picture of war at its most elemental." —The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation In February 1942, a reconnaissance party of United States Army Air Force officers arrived in England. Firmly wedded to the doctrine of daylight precision bombing, they believed they could help turn the tide of the war in Europe. In the months that followed, they formed the Eighth Air Force – an organization that grew at an astonishing rate. To accommodate it, almost seventy airfields were hastily built across the eastern counties of England. At the heart of the Eighth Air Force was its bombardment groups, each equipped with scores of heavily armed, four-engine bombers. These Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators were soon punching through the enemy's defenses to bomb targets vital to its war effort. They were crewed by thousands of young American airmen, most of whom were volunteers. This book tells the story of just one "Bomb Group" – the 381st, which crossed the Atlantic in May 1943. Arriving at RAF Ridgewell on the Essex-Suffolk border, its airmen quickly found themselves thrown into the hazardous and attritional air battle raging in the skies over Europe. The 381st’s path led from its formation in the Texan desert, to its 297th and final bombing mission deep into the heart of Hitler’s Third Reich. This is the remarkable story of one group and the part it played in the strategic bombing campaign of "The Mighty Eighth."
Download or read book The Wild Blue written by Stephen E. Ambrose and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-08-14 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen E. Ambrose, acclaimed author of Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage, carries us along in the crowded and dangerous B-24s as their crews fought to destroy the German war machine during World War II. The young men who flew the B-24s over Germany in World War II fought against horrific odds, and, in The Wild Blue, Ambrose recounts their extraordinary heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship with vivid detail and affection. Ambrose describes how the Army Air Forces recruited, trained, and selected the elite few who would undertake the most demanding and dangerous jobs in the war. These are the boys—turned pilots, bombardiers, navigators, and gunners of the B-24s—who suffered over fifty percent casualties. With his remarkable gift for bringing alive the action and tension of combat, Ambrose carries us along in the crowded, uncomfortable, and dangerous B-24s as their crews fought to the death through thick black smoke and deadly flak to reach their targets and destroy the German war machine. Twenty-two-year-old George McGovern, who was to become a United States senator and a presidential candidate, flew thirty-five combat missions (all the Army would allow) and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. We meet him and his mates, his co-pilot killed in action, and crews of other planes. Many went down in flames. As Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers portrayed the bravery and ultimate victory of the American soldiers from Normandy on to Germany, The Wild Blue illustrates the enormous contribution that these young men of the Army Air Forces made to the Allied victory.
Download or read book The Last Cavalryman written by Harvey Ferguson and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2015-03-16 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this biography of Lucian K. Truscott, Jr., author Harvey Ferguson tells the story of how Truscott—despite his hardscrabble beginnings, patchy education, and questionable luck— not only made the rank of army lieutenant general, earning a reputation as one of World War II’s most effective officers along the way, but was also given an honorary promotion to four-star general seven years after his retirement.
Download or read book Gentlemen from Hell Men of the 487th Bomb Group written by C.C. Neal and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2005-10-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a touching compilation of personal accounts of the men who served in the 487th Bomb Group during World War II. These accounts exemplify the dedication and sacrifice these men made in the face of grave danger while serving their country during the largest 8th Air Force mission during the Battle of the Bulge. It's been 60 years since these men left a portion of their youth in various parts of Europe, but their words make it feel lke WWII ended only yesterday. From humor to heartache, the reader runs the gamut of emotions when living vicariously through the stories of the brave men of the 487th Bomb Group - the Gentlemen From Hell.
Download or read book Let the Nations be Glad written by John Piper and published by Inter-Varsity Press. This book was released on 2020-05-21 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Mission is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate.' John Piper's contemporary classic draws on key biblical texts to demonstrate that worship is the ultimate goal of the church and that proper worship fuels missionary outreach. Piper offers a biblical defence of God's supremacy in all things, providing a sound theological foundation for missions. He examines whether Jesus is the only way to salvation and issues a passionate plea for God-centredness in the missionary enterprise, seeking to define the scope of the task and the means for reaching 'all nations'. Let the Nations Be Glad! is a trusted resource for missionaries, pastors, church leaders, youth workers, seminary students, and all who want to connect their labours to God's global purposes. This third edition has been revised and expanded throughout and includes new material on the 'prosperity gospel'.
Download or read book Steel Will written by Shilo Harris and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2014-09-02 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On February 19, 2007, SSG Shilo Harris was patrolling an infamous southern Iraqi roadway when his Humvee was struck by an IED. Moments later, three members of his crew were dead and Shilo had sustained severe burns over 35 percent of his body, lost his ears and the skin off his face, and lost much of the use of his badly mangled fingers. This fiery moment was just the beginning of an arduous road laced with pain, emotional anguish, and much soul-searching. For forty-eight days Shilo lay trapped in a medically induced coma as his wife, unable to ease his suffering, had to come to grips with a man utterly changed. This is the story of a young boy raised in a small Texas town under the heavy yoke of a father struggling with the personal aftermath of his service in Vietnam. This is the story of the first human being to participate in extracellular stem cell regeneration to regrow lost body parts. This is the story of the survivor not only of an explosion but of more than sixty surgeries to restore both form and function to his broken body. This is the story of the wife who stood by his side, made hard decisions, and continues to support her husband through his struggles with PTSD. This is the story of a God who reshapes us into the people he wants us to be. And in that way, this is the story of all of us. Anyone whose life has been touched by tragedy and loss, especially military families dealing with PTSD, TBI, amputations, and other realities of wartime service, will find strength, encouragement, and inspiration in this moving memoir.
Download or read book Seven Steps to Hell and Back written by Frank E. Wiggins and published by . This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of a combat veteran's DEATH WISH journey and how he struggled to survive in a civilian world. Go back in time with Frank E. Wiggins to the cold war while he was stationed in Germany during 1958 to 1959. Frank had completed seven missions which involved clearing mine fields between the West and East Germany border. He was only eighteen years old; he followed orders to the best of his ability and at first he had no idea he was participating in top secret, covert operations. The events of his seventh mission solidified his decision to refuse to participate in any more of these operations. To this day, Frank is still reliving trauma that climaxed with his seventh mission. He continues to have nightmares, flashbacks, and triggers that only a combat veteran would understand. Frank led a nomadic and restless life after the military. He had a Death Wish and had No Fear. This journey led him to battle gang infested parks in Los Angeles, California and the Projects in Santa Fe, New Mexico, constantly putting his life in danger.
Download or read book The True Story of Catch 22 written by Patricia Chapman Meder and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The real-life companion to the literary classic—written and illustrated by the daughter of the 340th Bomb Group’s commander, Catch-22’s Col. Cathcart. After the publication of his bestselling novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller usually chose to deny that any of his richly drawn characters were based on his actual war mates. However, to those who served with Heller in the 340th Bomb Group, the novel’s characters were indeed recognizable—the hard-drinking, vengeful, and disillusioned Chief White Halfoat; young, sliced-in-half Kid Sampson; shrieking, frenzied Hungry Joe; Col. Cathcart; Gen. Dreedle; Yossarian; and that capitalist supreme, Milo Minderbinder. In this book, written and colorfully illustrated by the daughter of the 340th Bomb Group’s commander, Col. Willis Chapman, we finally encounter the real men and combat missions on which the novel was based. While Heller’s fully developed characters stand solely, solidly, and uniquely on their own merits, The True Story of Catch-22 proves that any resemblance to persons living or dead is, in fact, actual. This three-part book blends fact, fancy, and history with full-blown original illustrations and rare, previously unpublished photos of these daring USAAF flyers and their Corsica-based B-25 Mitchell. Along with descriptions of the 340th’s real wartime experiences, the work includes twelve men of the Bomb Group relating richly told tales of their own. “In these pages it is a great pleasure to finally see the real story behind the fictionalized account, and to be even more impressed.” —Scott Carpenter, NASA astronaut “Heller’s satiric caricatures are here shown to have stemmed from patriotic, courageous, highly decorated airmen who daily performed heroic wartime feats against overwhelming obstacles.” —Library Journal
Download or read book Low Level Hell written by Hugh L. Mills, Jr. and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2009-01-16 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aeroscouts of the 1st Infantry Division had three words emblazoned on their unit patch: Low Level Hell. It was then and continues today as the perfect concise definition of what these intrepid aviators experienced as they ranged the skies of Vietnam from the Cambodian border to the Iron Triangle. The Outcasts, as they were known, flew low and slow, aerial eyes of the division in search of the enemy. Too often for longevity’s sake they found the Viet Cong and the fight was on. These young pilots (19-22 years old) “invented” the book as they went along. Praise for Low Level Hell “An absolutely splendid and engrossing book. The most compelling part is the accounts of his many air-to-ground engagements. There were moments when I literally held my breath.”—Dr. Charles H. Cureton, Chief Historian, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine (TRADOC) Command “Low Level Hell is the best ‘bird’s eye view’ of the helicopter war in Vietnam in print today. No volume better describes the feelings from the cockpit. Mills has captured the realities of a select group of aviators who shot craps with death on every mission.”—R.S. Maxham, Director, U.S. Army Aviation Museum
Download or read book Beyond Hell and Back written by Dwight Jon Zimmerman and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look at seven of the most harrowing and significant Special Operations missions ever. Courage beyond reason. Loyalty beyond faith. Perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. These are just some of the qualities of the members of the U.S. Special Operation Forces. BEYOND HELL AND BACK details the seven defining Special Ops missions that have made the Special Operation Forces the best fighting unit in the world, including: *THE RESCUE OF BAT-21: The largest and longest Combat Search and Rescue mission in the Vietnam War lasted 17 days and cost the lives of 13 Americans—all to rescue one man and the invaluable knowledge he alone possessed. * TASK FORCE NORMANDY: Planned in secrecy and executed with flawless efficiency, Task Force Normandy was an Army/Air Force Special Operations joint op that fired the opening shots behind enemy lines in Operation Desert Storm. *OPERATION EAGLE CLAW: The devastating Special Forces operation mounted to retrieve 52 American hostages in Iran resulted in the deaths of eight members of the rescue team. This failure ultimately led to the creation of Special Operations Command. *BASHER 52: Captain Scott O'Grady was shot down over the "no fly" zone above Bosnia, and his daring rescue was one of the Marine Corps' finest operations ever. These are a few of the dramatic true tales that represent the defining moments that helped shape the operational methods, planning, and deployment for all future Special Ops missions. BEYOND HELL AND BACK is the greatest collection of Spec Ops missions ever assembled.
Download or read book Hell Above Earth written by Stephen Frater and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "After the twists and turns in Goering's many missions, Frater finishes with a stunning revelation . . . the author delivers an exciting read full of little-known facts about the war. A WWII thrill ride." - Kirkus Reviews The U.S. air battle over Nazi Germany in WWII was hell above earth. For bomber crews, every day they flew was like D-Day, exacting a terrible physical and emotional toll. Twenty-year-old U.S. Captain Werner Goering, accepted this, even thrived on and welcomed the adrenaline rush. He was an exceptional pilot—and the nephew of Hermann Göring, leading member of the Nazi party and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. The FBI and the American military would not prevent Werner from serving his American homeland, but neither would they risk the propaganda coup that his desertion or capture would represent for Nazi Germany. J. Edgar Hoover issued a top-secret order that if Captain Goering's plane was downed for any reason over Nazi-occupied Europe, someone would be there in the cockpit to shoot Goering dead. FBI agents found a man capable of accomplishing the task in Jack Rencher, a tough, insular B-17 instructor who also happened to be one of the Army's best pistol shots. That Jack and Werner became unlikely friends is just one more twist in one of the most incredible untold tales of WWII.
Download or read book Through Blue Skies to Hell written by Edward M. Sion and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2008-03-19 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “surprisingly revealing” look at air combat, combining a WWII bombardier’s journal with a present-day perspective (Aviation News). This comprehensive look at air war over Europe during the climactic year of World War II combines firsthand experience with expert analysis. The centerpiece is a mission-by-mission diary of 1st Lt. Richard R. Ayesh, bombardier on a B-17 Flying Fortress, who flew with the 100th Bombardment Group, 13th Combat Wing of the 8th Air Force—the legendary “Bloody 100th.” He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Croix de Guerre, and Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters, among others. This book follows Ayesh’s progress from his youth during the Great Depression in Wichita, Kansas, which was rapidly becoming the air capital of the nation, to his arrival in England as a lieutenant in a bomber crew assigned to assault the Third Reich. The author provides a look at the principles of American daylight strategic bombing, while relaying the overall military situation on the ground and in the air just after D-Day. Covering all aspects of air war in a clear, concise, yet nontechnical manner, the book covers such topics as photo-reconnaissance, munitions and bomb types, aircraft characteristics, fighter and bomber tactics, bomber formations, strategic target selection, radars, countermeasures and counter-counter measures. The unaltered diary of Lt. Ayesh is presented mission-by-mission, punctuated by tragedy and heroism, with explanations and commentary of the significance of events and actions described en route. The result is one of the most frank and exciting works on the air war over Europe to date. After Lt. Ayesh is followed on his perilous return home in U-boat infested waters, the book assesses the effectiveness of US strategy in ultimately paralyzing the Nazi war machine. Finally, the complex moral issues raised by area and city bombing are explored, with twenty-first century implications.
Download or read book Mission Road written by Rick Riordan and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ralph Arguello is a one-time criminal, now married to San Antonio policewoman Ana, and a friend of private investigator Tres Navarre. When DNA evidence emerges, tying Ralph to a long-unsolved underworld killing on Mission Road, and Ana turns up murdered, Ralph runs to the only person he knows can help him. On the run from a city-wide manhunt, Tres arms himself and heads back to seedy Mission Road in a bid to discover what really happened eighteen years earlier and clear Ralph's name . . . but some secrets are better left buried. A classic of Texan tension, Mission Road is the dramatic sixth book in the multiple-award-winning suspense series by the internationally bestselling author of the Percy Jackson novels.
Download or read book The Last Mission written by Harry Mazer and published by Laurel Leaf. This book was released on 2008-12-30 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1944, as World War II is raging across Europe, fifteen-year-old Jack Raab dreams of being a hero. Leaving New York City, his family, and his boyhood behind, Jack uses a false I.D. and lies his way into the U.S. Air Force. From their base in England, he and his crew fly twenty-four treacherous bombing missions over occupied Europe. The war is almost over and Hitler near defeat when they fly their last mission -- a mission destined for disaster. Shot down far behind enemy lines, Jack is taken prisoner and sent to a German POW camp, where his experiences are more terrifying than anything he'd ever imagined.
Download or read book B 29 Double Trouble Is Mister Bee written by Colonel Charles A. Jones and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the story of Elmer C. Jones, a young man who grew up during the Great Depression and who joined the military in 1943, becoming a member of the Army's Air Corps in 1944. He was the radar observer of a B-29 Superfortress bomber crew flying 28 combat missions over Japan in 1945--13 bombing missions and 15 photographic reconnaissance missions, including the longest mission of the war: 4,650 miles in 23:00 hours. He accumulated 489:50 combat flying hours during the war.
Download or read book Serenade To The Big Bird written by Bert Stiles and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After completing a tour of duty (thirty-five missions) in B-17s, Bert Stiles transferred to a fighter squadron. Just four months later he was killed in action on an escort mission to Hanover, Germany, on November 26, 1944. Stiles’ book was written in the period between his two tours. Serenade to the Big Bird portrays the tragedy of war, and specifically the loss to the world of a fine, sensitive, talented writer who had only a short time to prove his merit. He died at twenty-three.
