Download or read book Damn Lucky written by Kevin Maurer and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Kevin Maurer—the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning coauthor of No Easy Day—comes the true story of a World War II bomber pilot who survived twenty-five missions in Damn Lucky, “an epic, thrillingly written, utterly immersive account of a very lucky, incredible survivor of the war in the skies to defeat Hitler” (New York Times bestselling author Alex Kershaw). “We were young citizen-soldiers, terribly naive and gullible about what we would be confronted with in the air war over Europe and the profound effect it would have upon every fiber of our being for the rest of our lives. We were all afraid, but it was beyond our power to quit. We volunteered for the service and, once trained and overseas, felt we had no choice but to fulfill the mission assigned. My hope is that this book honors the men with whom I served by telling the truth about what it took to climb into the cold blue and fight for our lives over and over again.” —John “Lucky” Luckadoo, Major, USAF (Ret.) 100th Bomb Group (H) Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine. With a shrapnel torn Bible in his flight jacket pocket and his girlfriend’s silk stocking around his neck like a scarf as talismans, Luckadoo piloted through Luftwaffe machine-gun fire and antiaircraft flak while enduring subzero temperatures to complete twenty-five missions and his combat service. The average bomber crew rarely survived after eight to twelve missions. Knowing far too many airmen who wouldn’t be returning home, Luckadoo closed off his emotions and focused on his tasks to finish his tour of duty one moment at a time, realizing his success was more about being lucky than being skilled. Drawn from Luckadoo’s firsthand accounts, acclaimed war correspondent Kevin Maurer shares his extraordinary tale from war to peacetime, uncovering astonishing feats of bravery during the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history, and presenting an incredible portrait of a young man’s coming-of-age during the world’s most devastating war.
Download or read book So Damn Lucky written by Deborah Coonts and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2013-02-26 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Casino fixer Lucky O'Toole's search for a missing magician is complicated by a confrontation with The Big Boss, the hopeful advances of coworker Paxton Dane, and a blisteringly amorous French chef.
Download or read book The Lucky Few written by Heather Avis and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When life looks radically different than the plan we have for ourselves, it's the lucky few that recognize God's plan is best. That's what adoptive mom Heather Avis learned, and that's the invitation of this book. As the mother of three adopted children - two with Down syndrome - Heather Avis has learned that it's truly the lucky few who get to live a life like hers, who actually recognize that God's plans are best, even when they seem so radically different from the plans we have for ourselves. When Heather started her journey into parenthood she never thought it would look like this, never planned to have three adopted children, and certainly never imagined that two of them would have Down syndrome. But like most things God does, once she stepped into the craziness and confusion that comes with the unknown and the unplanned, she realized that they were indeed among the lucky few. Discover in this book what 70,000+ followers of Heather's hit Instagram account @macymakesmyday already know: the power of faith and family can help us stay strong in the toughest times. This book will also be especially touching to those with adopted family members or children with Down syndrome in their lives.
Download or read book Wanna Get Lucky written by Deborah Coonts and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2011-02 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Complete with designer duds, porn conventions, partner-swapping parties, and clever repartee, this is chick-lit gone wild and sexy, lightly wrapped in mystery and tied up with a brilliantly flashing neon bow. "Wanna Get Lucky?" hits the proverbial jackpot.--"Booklist."
Download or read book Lucky Jim written by Kingsley Amis and published by Viking. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Lucky Jim' is the tale of university lecturer Jim Dixon who has to navigate the stumbling blocks of life at a red brick university, as he attempts to climb the social ladder to a moderately successful future.
Download or read book Luck of the Draw written by Frank Murphy and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “In the pursuit of authenticity, of accurate history and undeniable courage, no words matter more than, ‘I was there.’ Read Luck of the Draw and the life of Frank Murphy and ponder this: how did those boys do such things?” —Tom Hanks The epic true story of an American hero who flew during WWII, as featured in the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV Series, Masters of the Air. Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp after being shot out of his B-17 Flying Fortress. Now with a new foreword written by his granddaughter Chloe Melas, of NBC, and daughter Elizabeth Murphy. “A gripping, inspirational account of incredible bravery, resilience, and sheer will to survive. A truly extraordinary story!” —General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Download or read book Call Me Lucky written by Mike Farris and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Do you think you could teach Rock Hudson to talk like you do?” The question came from famed Hollywood director George Stevens, and an affirmative answer propelled Bob Hinkle into a fifty-year career in Hollywood as a speech coach, actor, producer, director, and friend to the stars. Along the way, Hinkle helped Rock Hudson, Dennis Hopper, Carroll Baker, and Mercedes McCambridge talk like Texans for the 1956 epic film Giant. He also helped create the character Jett Rink with James Dean, who became a best friend, and he consoled Elizabeth Taylor personally when Dean was killed in a tragic car accident before the film was released. A few years later, Paul Newman asked Hinkle to do for him what he’d done for James Dean. The result was Newman’s powerful portrayal of a Texas no-good in the Academy Award–winning film Hud (1963). Hinkle could—and did—stop by the LBJ Ranch to exchange pleasantries with the president of the United States. He did likewise with Elvis Presley at Graceland. Good friends with Robert Wagner, Hinkle even taught Wagner’s wife Natalie Wood how to throw a rope. He appeared in numerous television series, including Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Dragnet, and Walker, Texas Ranger. On a handshake, he worked as country music legend Marty Robbins’s manager, and he helped Evel Knievel rise to fame. From his birth in Brownfield, Texas, to a family so poor “they could only afford a tumbleweed as a pet,” Hinkle went on to gain acclaim in Hollywood. Through it all, he remained the salty, down-to-earth former rodeo cowboy from West Texas who could talk his way into—or out of—most any situation. More than forty photographs, including rare behind-the-scenes glimpses of the stars Hinkle met and befriended along the way, complement this rousing, never-dull memoir.
Download or read book A Wing and a Prayer written by Harry H. Crosby and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A compelling account of the air war against Germany” written by the navigator portrayed by Anthony Boyle in Apple TV’s Masters of the Air (Publishers Weekly). They began operations out of England in the spring of ’43. They flew their Flying Fortresses almost daily against strategic targets in Europe in the name of freedom. Their astonishing courage and appalling losses earned them the name that resounds in the annals of aerial warfare and made the “Bloody Hundredth” a legend. Harry H. Crosby—depicted in the miniseries Masters of the Air developed by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg—arrived with the very first crews, and left with the very last. After dealing with his fear and gaining in skill and confidence, he was promoted to Group Navigator, surviving hairbreadth escapes and eluding death while leading thirty-seven missions, some of them involving two thousand aircraft. Now, in a breathtaking and often humorous account, he takes us into the hearts and minds of these intrepid airmen to experience both the triumph and the white-knuckle terror of the war in the skies. “Affecting . . . A vivid account . . . Uncommonly thoughtful recollections that address the moral ambiguities of a great cause without in any way denigrating the selfless valor or camaraderie that helped ennoble it.” —Kirkus Reviews “Re-creates for us the sense of how it was when European skies were filled with noise and danger, when the fate of millions hung in the balance. An evocative and excellent memoir.” —Library Journal “The acrid stench of fear and cordite, the coal burning stoves, the heroics, the losses . . . This has to be the best memoir I have read, bar none.” —George Hicks, director of the Airmen Memorial Museum
Download or read book Dumb but Lucky written by Richard Curtis and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Second lieutenant Dick Curtis arrived in Italy in May 1944–twenty years old and part of a shipment of P-51 Mustang fighter pilots so desperately needed that they were rushed into combat with less than thirty hours of flight time in their new high-performance aircraft. Six of the twelve pilots assigned to the 52nd Fighter Group were shot down in the first two weeks. By his ninth mission, Curtis was the only one still flying. A maverick, he barely escaped court-martial with his high-flying antics. Escorting bombers sent to pound heavily defended oil fields was risky enough, but strafing the enemy supply lines, ports, and airfields was even more dangerous. Curtis may chalk up his success to dumb luck, but these missions took exceptional skill and courage. This hair-raising account captures the air war in all its split-second terror and adrenaline-pumping action.
Download or read book Deborah Coonts Official Reading List written by Deborah Coonts and published by Chestnut Street Press. This book was released on 2018-01-03 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the official reading order of the Lucky O'Toole Vegas Adventure series, the Kate Sawyer Medical Thriller series, the Brinda Rose Humorous Mystery series and complete list of standalone novels by Deborah Coonts. Use it to track your reading and keep up to date on the latest releases from Deborah Coonts. This list includes all releases as of November 2020!
Download or read book Ashes Book Two of the SAPP Trilogy written by Maeghan Jo Kimball and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2015-07-20 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eight years have passed since Lila Raspreno and Anderson Olm raided Banbury's compound to rescue Lila's adopted son, Nate. Eight years since they discovered Arlo, another one of Banbury's genetic experiments amid the chaos. Eight years since Lila and Andy became bound to one another. So many questions were answered, while others were left to fester. Including the future of SAPP; the School of the Advancement of Practical Psionics and Lila herself. Arlo Anderson Olm, the genetic and adopted son of Lila and Andy who has just turned 8, is experiencing violent dreams from those first few tumultuous months of his life as his powers intensify and can't be controlled. A new-comer, Billy, a young Psion of Korean descent, moves in with the already stressed Olm clan when Lila decides he needs specialized attention. Then there is Nate and his partner, Jonah, who is already disabled and suffers a devastating mental snap. It seems like everything is happening at once and Lila isn't sure how much more she can take
Download or read book A Week at Surfside Beach written by Pierce Koslosky Jr and published by Vertel Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thousands of families and individuals are attracted to the South Carolina coast each year, renting houses up and down the beach throughout the seasons. They bring their lives with them when they come to this magical place. In A Week at Surfside Beach, author Pierce Koslosky Jr. has crafted sixteen poignant short stories that paint a vivid portrait of the beach's diverse, temporary inhabitants: those people attracted to a landscape both beautiful and overwhelming in its ability to force introspection and change. Set over the course of a single rental season that ends at Christmas, the book's unrelated characters all have their stays in the blue beach house, yet each story has a distinct message at its core. Readers will follow people in every stage of life—from a six-year-old entering the imaginary world of crabs to an escapee from a retirement home—and witness their varied individual experiences. These are stories of hope and redemption, connection and detachment, and lessons taught and learned. Both original and contemplative, heartbreaking and inspirational, A Week at Surfside Beach brings together a collection of tales with seemingly ordinary, simple, and familiar details—yet underneath their calm, relatable surfaces exist the uncomfortable, extraordinary complexities of life.
Download or read book Because written by Dani R. Bergman and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2000-11 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bo turned around and watched what was left of the once-magnificent hotel. He could see fires burning in several areas of the charred building. What Davis had pointed out was the almost slow motion collapse of the hotel. Where the main blast had occurred, there wasn't much fire,just a gapping hole. The floor above was falling into the area where the destruction had started. It, in turn, was falling into the floor below it. It looked to Bo as if a hellish mouth had opened. Flaming mattresses and burning furniture were falling like spit from that devilish mouth.
Download or read book Deep Water written by Deborah Coonts and published by Chestnut Street Press. This book was released on 2017-03-28 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OIL, THE KEY TO WORLD POWER Patrick Donovan, Texas wildcatter, has tapped into a vast reservoir. A senior Senator from Texas is presumed dead. Sam Donovan, Patrick’s daughter, finds herself in the bullseye of a world scramble to gain control of her father’s well. A helicopter pilot operating between the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, Sam knows how the game is played. But this time, the stakes are life and death. PRAISE FOR Deep Water “Thrilling, explosive suspense, a wonderful romance, Deep Water has it all. So many twists and turns. I loved it.” - Barbara Freethy, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist
Download or read book Crushed written by Deborah Coonts and published by Chestnut Street Press. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Napa Valley, he who has the best grapes wins. And in the pursuit of perfection, dreams and hearts can be crushed. Sophia Stone is a widow on the brink of an empty nest, stuck in an unsatisfying job managing the vineyard for a mediocre Napa vintner. Faced with an uncertain future she wonders how do you choose between making a living and making a life? Between protecting your heart and sharing it? Five years ago, after her husband was killed in an accident, Sophia put her heart and dreams on ice to care for those around her. Now her home, her dreams, and her family’s legacy grapes are threatened by the greed of the new money moving into the Valley. Sophia has a choice—give up and let them take what is hers, or risk everything fighting a battle everyone says she can’t win. Nico Treviani has one goal in life: make brilliant wine. A woman would be an unwanted distraction. So, while recognized as one of Napa’s premier vintners, Nico finds himself alone…until his brother’s death drops not one, but two women into his life—his thirteen-year-old twin nieces. In an instant, Nico gains a family and loses his best friend and partner in the winemaking business. Struggling to care for his nieces, Nico accepts a job as head winemaker for Avery Specter, one of the new-money crowd. And he learns the hard way that new money doesn’t stick to the old rules. When Sophia Stone gets caught in the middle of Nico’s struggle to remain true to himself or sacrifice his convictions to make stellar wine, both Sophia and Nico are faced with a choice they never imagined. A choice that might extinguish the hope of a future neither expected.
Download or read book American Airline s Secret War in China written by Leland Shanle and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-10-31 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In late 1941, President Roosevelt agonized over the rapid advances of the Japanese forces in Asia; they seemed unstoppable. He foresaw their intentions of taking India and linking up with the two other Axis Powers, Germany and Italy, in an attempt to conquer the Eastern Hemisphere. US naval forces had been surprised and diminished in Pearl Harbor and the army was not only outnumbered but also ill-prepared to take on the invading hoards. One of Roosevelts few options was to form a defensive line on the eastern side of the Patkai and Himalayan Ranges; there, he could look for support from the Chinese and Burmese. It was the only defence to a Japanese invasion of India.To support and supply the troops who were fighting in hostile jungle terrain, where overland routes had been cut off, he desperately needed to set up an air supply from Eastern India. His problem was lack of aircraft and experienced pilots to fly the dangerous Hump, over the worlds highest mountains. Hence the inception of Operation Seven Alpha, a plan to enlist the aircraft—DC-3s—and the pilots—veterans of World War One—of American Airlines. This newly formed elite Squadron would fly the medium-range aircraft in a series of long-distance hops across the Pacific and Southern Asia to the Assam Valley in India. They would then create and operate the vital supply route, carrying arms, ammunition and food Eastward to the Allied bases, before returning with wounded personnel. This is the story of that little-known operation, carried out in the early days of the Burma Campaign.The book is based on first-hand experiences of those who were involved, and it serves as a fitting tribute to the bravery and inventiveness of a band of men who answered their countrys desperate call at the outset of the war against Japan in Asia.
Download or read book Old Earth written by Gary Grossman and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Sweeps the reader away with history, intrigue, espionage, engaging characters, and an intelligent conclusion—all elements of the perfect thriller!" —Steve Berry, New York Times-bestselling author of The Warsaw Protocol In the summer of 1601, Galileo Galilei made a startling discovery in the mountains of Eastern Italy that, if made public, could shatter faith in religion, bring down governments and lead to worldwide turmoil. For more than four hundred years, the secret has been guarded by a small group of people willing to do everything in their power to keep these discoveries from being made. But now, a university dig in Montana headed by paleontologists Quinn McCauley and Katrina Alpert threatens to expose the secret Galileo unearthed, the event that caused him to turn his study to the stars, and the hidden reason the scientist was convicted of heresy by the Inquisition… The author of the wildly popular Executive series digs into the history of the Earth to find the secrets people are willing to kill to keep buried—weighing age-old arguments between science and religion in a tense thriller that spans time and questions recorded history. "A high energy combination of history and intrigue, and last but not least, a great book to bring along the next time you travel." —Peter Greenberg, CBS News Travel Editor “Old Earth’s richly detailed and unique premise will delight fans of Dan Brown and Michael Crichton.” —CJ Lyons, New York Times-bestselling author of Snake Skin "A high energy combination of history and intrigue, and last but not least, a great book to bring along the next time you travel." —Peter Greenberg, CBS News Travel Editor "OLD EARTH's richly detailed and unique premise will delight fans of Dan Brown and Michael Crichton." —CJ Lyons, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author
