Air warfare was a decisive component of World War II, especially in western Europe and over Japan, where Allied bombers damaged 66 of the country’s largest cities. The guts and glory of the bomber crews came, however, with a high casualty rate which had only improved marginally by the war’s end. Descriptions of the bombers’ harrowing missions told from the firsthand perspective of their pilots, navigators, bombardiers and gunners create the immediacy of a single person’s experience during one of America’s most daring military expeditions. A short biography of each veteran accompanies these tales of typical and not-so-typical missions.

Broadcast writer and producer Alan L. Griggs lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Edited by Alan L. Griggs
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 267
Bibliographic Info: 78 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3707-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1618-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      ix

Foreword by Michael Bess      1

Preface      3

1. Captain R.M. Benson      5

2. Lieutenant Bill Jernigan      10

3. Lieutenant Mandell Cypress      16

4. Lieutenant Charles Jackson      19

5. Captain Beecher Bilbrey      25

6. Sergeant Bob Rourke      30

7. Lieutenant Jim White      34

8. Lieutenant Thomas French      39

9. Sergeant Jim DeMontbreun      44

10. Captain Bush Cole      48

11. Sergeant Leonard Mika      54

12. Captain Bob Gregg      59

13. Lieutenant Harry Williams, Jr.      62

14. Captain Bill Reeder      68

15. Lieutenant Tom Graves      72

16. Captain Bill Becker      77

17. Sergeant David Oldashi      79

18. Lieutenant Roy Buck      82

19. Sergeant Bud Reeder      85

20. Major Clarence Evans      90

21. Sergeant John Katz      99

22. Lieutenant Bill Rickman      102

23. Lieutenant John McGonagle      105

24. Lieutenant Art Driscoll      110

25. Lieutenant Myron King      114

26. Lieutenant Don Peterson      120

27. Captain Al Suedekum      123

28. Lieutenant John Lechleiter      126

29. Sergeant Bernard Sanderson      129

30. Sergeant Charles Whitehead      132

31. Lieutenant Arvid Shulenberger      136

32. Sergeant Bill Roberts      142

33. Lieutenant Bob Smartt      148

34. Captain J.O. Grizzell      150

35. Captain Robert Fesmire      153

36. Sergeant Bill Jones      160

37. Lieutenant Ben Ernst      162

38. Captain J. Ivan Potts, Jr.      165

39. Sergeant Bill Eastland      175

40. Lieutenant Bob Chambers      180

41. Lieutenant Jim Kirtland      185

42. Sergeant John Cunningham      189

43. Major John Kolemba      192

44. Major Cooper Schley      200

45. Lieutenant Jack Downey      206

46. Sergeant Robert Howell, Jr.      209

47. Sergeant Robert Sheehan      213

48. Lieutenant Bob Cartwright      219

49. Lieutenant Jerry Neal      224

50. Lieutenant Bob Elliott      226

51. Lieutenant Eino Latvala      229

52. Sergeant George Shreeve      233

53. Lieutenant Mark Osborne      239

54. Lieutenant W.C. Gibson      244

55. Major Calvin Fite      248

Index      253