The war memories for each were not easy to tell or write, for some had repressed them long ago. We have been able to live the American Dream through dedicated soldiers as the 250th Field Artillerymen. They spent many nights together away from home with ties that would bind them together that has never loosened over the years. Their stories are inspiring ones of faith, courage, patriotism and some told with humor, which helped to put their experience into perspective - somewhat! During this time, our people here at home were doing their part in everyway they could. Everyone listened to the radio for further news. The good news finally came - from "Day of Infamy" to "VE-VJ Day!" As a light weight 105mm howitzer battalion they would become known for their firing power. They made history and are leaving a legacy to be most proud. They proved they still can answer to the call of duty. I am proud to say, never once did I not enjoy my work with each of these men. Let's just say - we have a deeper friendship than when we began this project together. I became their ears and wrote the word for many of them. I scribbled making notes as they talked and then, when hunched over my keyboard to translate from them working into the early morning hours. I pray I conveyed each story as each of them would have. As I wrote, I got the sense what the American flag meant to each - it symbolized a Tradition of Caring. I wrote with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eyes and, yes, a little snicker.

“No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told,” wrote Harry Truman. “He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen.” THIS is the final book of Ernie Pyle’s war reporting. After Africa, Italy, and D-Day on the European continent, Pyle took it the hard way again. There was still the Pacific war to win, and where the fighting was Ernie had to go, soul-sick though he was with the thousands of scenes of death and destruction he had already witnessed. He was attached to the Navy early in 1945. In the Marianas first and then living with the boys who flew the B-29s over the Japanese homeland, Pyle was experiencing a side of the war that was new to him. Next he joined an aircraft carrier on the invasion of Okinawa. He made the landing with the Marines and saw Okinawa secured. Then his luck ran out. A Japanese bullet killed Ernie Pyle on April 17th, 1945 on Ie Shima, and Americans lost their greatest and best-loved correspondent. Millions mourned the going of this modest man who wrote of the war with all honesty and no pretensions, and whose writings will stand as one of the most vital records of the struggle. LAST CHAPTER is a brief, brave little book to complete that record permanently. There is a sixteen-page picture section and an index of names and places.

Colonel Harry G. Canham made unfathomable sacrifices, spending over three decades away from the comfort of home on dangerous missions to protect and defend America. He knows about military preparedness, global strategy, and combined operations in the coalition war against fascism waged in air over several diverse theaters of operations. He displayed physical courage, flying top secret weapon and combat missions, aiding in paving the way for peace. Colonel Canham served during World War II, Korea, Resrves, NATO Operations, and Vietnam as pilot, director, and commander and flew twenty-two thousand hours night missions. During Colonel Canhams thirty-two years of service, he earned numerous medals and decorations, but his main objective was all about victory. He didnt court attention and never flinched from an assignment. The chronological air force tree branches he had built were records that represented the spirit and ideals of the heart of a young Illinois boy making a decision in 1942. For Colonel Canham, he made it home, but not unscratched. After he recovered from a serious Vietnam injury, it never entered his mind to quit and continued to fly eighty-six more missions. Harrys military journey is unique of a modest pilot who wished not to tell of his accomplishments but just a pilot doing his duty.

Many World War II exploits took place away from the spotlight. Raymond Miller brings his gift to the story of Service and Duty. How he chose to leave Purdue University, ROTC, a basketball team and parents behind to help bring a dictator to heel as co-pilot of a B-17G Flying Fortress Bomber. On Raymonds second combat mission he nearly lost his life from a piece of shrapnel to the throat and shattered breast bone. After surgery and rehab he resumed to co-pilot twenty more combat missions encountering the best the Germans could throw against them. Theyd leave out to fly a mission over hostile territory not knowing when they might be hit or knowing if they would return. There were flights where the crews gulp to alleviate fear, for they felt there were no havens of security in an Allied victory that at times seemed importable. Raymond Miller feels honored to have been able to serve his country. Raymonds story gives a compelling glimpse of three brothers value that characterized their early years and their United States Army Air Corps years of dedication. Raymond says, I feel blessed for God has been good to me.

Irvin's story captures a penetrating and epic look at a young Texas boy, whose young years were spent on a small farm near Bradshaw, Texas. In a defining decision, he struck out for California in search of a better life. The unsettled abusive home environment seems to have guided Walter away from home. Walter was gifted with an inspiring mind-a person with potential to be. His mother, knowing his difficult stormy life, wanted better for her son and signed for him to enlist in the military. Walter's diary helps to put a face on the World War I "Battle at Sea" and life of a "Pharmacist Mate." He served six years and nine months in the navy, sailing with the fair winds of the sea aboard the USS Saranac. During World War I, Walter served on the Saranac during a dangerous mission that kept all ship crew alert on the United States Mine-Squadron One, North Sea, in fog and bad weather, a task never before done in the world. Walter's enlistment and subsquent struggle will fill one with awe of a young man with a passion of proficiency with a deep love of sports.

From a mesmerizing storyteller, the gripping search for a missing World War II crew, their bomber plane, and their legacy. In the fall of 1944, a massive American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the Pacific islands of Palau, leaving a trail of mysteries. According to mission reports from the Army Air Forces, the plane crashed in shallow water—but when investigators went to find it, the wreckage wasn’t there. Witnesses saw the crew parachute to safety, yet the airmen were never seen again. Some of their relatives whispered that they had returned to the United States in secret and lived in hiding. But they never explained why. For sixty years, the U.S. government, the children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and scuba divers searched the islands for clues. With every clue they found, the mystery only deepened. Now, in a spellbinding narrative, Wil S. Hylton weaves together the true story of the missing men, their final mission, the families they left behind, and the real reason their disappearance remained shrouded in secrecy for so long. This is a story of love, loss, sacrifice, and faith—of the undying hope among the families of the missing, and the relentless determination of scientists, explorers, archaeologists, and deep-sea divers to solve one of the enduring mysteries of World War II.

Rare memoir of a risky job performed by relatively few troops. Honest and observant narrative describes the good, bad, and ugly of the war. Covers World War II's closing months in eastern France and Germany.