One Army Air Corps soldier's ordeals during World War II. Written in the personable voice of someone reflecting honestly on his life's journey, this autobiography is full of anecdotes of a Depression-era Montana boyhood and culminates with the author's training for service as a B-17 pilot and subsequent role as a flight instructor.

Titled after the US Air Force song, this engaging debut explores the legacy of the Greatest Generation from the perspective of Generation Y, the fallout of war through the eyes of a pacifist, and the enduring human desire for love, adventure, truth, and understanding. Pensive in the wake of 9/11, a young man—our “correspondent between the past and the present”—launches a mission to reunite his beloved grandfather, an American bombardier, with Luddie, the woman who saved him during WWII. Armed only with the address on the back of an old photograph and his grandfather’s memories, the young man begins writing letters to Luddie. Undaunted by her lack of response, the narrator travels to Poland with his girlfriend and grandfather. As they come closer to finding the site where the bombardier was shot down, the letters to Luddie become more personal and the saga of a family with a long and storied history emerges. Beautifully orchestrated and eloquently original, each sentence slowly builds upon the next in a charming style both poetic and engrossing. A tale of soldiers and saviors, of burning and bombing, of fathers and sons and brothers and lovers, this is also the story of what we find when we dare to revisit the past. Born in Iowa in 1979, Travis Nichols now lives in Chicago. An editor at the Poetry Foundation, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Believer, Details, Paste, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and The Stranger. Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder is his first novel.

"Allan T. Stein idolized his uncle, a pilot in the Great War. So in 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, he left Texas A & M University for Lackland Air Field to learn to fly. By the time he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1969, Stein had flown everything from BT-13s and B-24s to B-52s and C-47s. During World War II, he flew missions over China and the Sea of Japan, and by V-J Day, he had participated in eight campaigns and logged 347 hours in combat. Stein later spent one year in Vietnam as operations officer for the 360 TEWS (Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron), which used refitted C-47s to monitor and locate Vietcong units. He ended his career as inspector general of the Civil Air Patrol." "Stein considers himself to have been an ordinary airman, not a hero. But he was also a seasoned pilot and a conscientious officer with a strong sense of right and wrong. After a young pilot he had certified died in an accident, Stein made it a practice to fail all but the best candidates. He was just as disgusted with the corruption he encountered in the Civil Air Patrol as he was with the tendentious reporters he met in Saigon's Hotel Caravelle." "Although he met his share of cowards and scoundrels, Stein loved to fly and he loved the air force. He was the sort of officer his superiors trusted not to make mistakes, but he was not the sort to rise to high rank. What he offers here is an account of a typical career as an air force officer, complete with its frustrations, moral dilemmas, and the occasional harrowing experience."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The 95th Bomb Group (Heavy), the most highly decorated bomb group of World War II, participated in every major mission of the war in Europe from May 1943 through the warÆs end and was awarded an unprecedented three Presidential Unit Citations. Flying the celebrated B-17 Flying Fortress, the 95th was the first U.S. bomb group to bomb Berlinùa feat that put it on the centerfold of Life magazineùand the last group to lose a plane over Europe in World War II. Over six hundred men in the 95th never came home. The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond is the first book to cover a World War II bomb group from its inception through the present day. Utilizing interviews with nearly a hundred air war veterans, dozens of unpublished crew memoirs, all the bomb groupÆs official mission reports from the National Archives, and nearly a hundred other sources, author Rob Morris (assisted by air war historian Ian Hawkins) provides a deep tactical and human understanding of the group. Also included are the stories of the veteransÆ wives and families, who fought a different kind of war at home, and the residents of Horham, whose tiny English village was suddenly on the warÆs front lines. Intensely human, exhaustively researched, and lovingly told, this book is certain to be a classic in the field and a resource for anyone interested in the workings of a World War II bomb group.

Over 650 Vietnam War novels have been published, mostly dark tales from the war zone. In Wild Blue Yonder, Airman Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers goes not to Vietnam but Germany, straight into a military Catch-22. His assignment: writing stories for the Stars and Stripes newspaper that will never see print. Nate's adventure deepens as he and his fellow troops try to understand why they're there, the military mindset, and the massive social disruption roiling 1960's America. Existential, psychedelic, funny, and laced with rock 'n' roll, Wild Blue Yonder is the story of Nate's quest for personal and spiritual values while trying to learn the meaning of family, friendship, and the love of the girl he left behind.

A collection of thirty-five creepy stories.

You’re considering joining or joined the United States Air Force (USAF). You desire to put your best foot forward at your new job and achieve a rewarding career. To rally toward your goal, “march in step’ ---work as a team---with proven strategies of success to “close ranks”---get and stay ahead in your career---for building your leadership skills and earning your next stripe. This scaled down, second book in the Career Progression Guide for Airmen series ‘cuts to the chase’ and walks you through career progression steps –from A to Z – allowing you to still hone in on the hard-core information for leadership and promotion increase opportunities. As you near the milestone of making the next rank, it then becomes a stepping stone for you to further mission accomplishment and see, sense, and smell a ‘rewarding career’ fi nish line. You’re also supplied with coaching and mentoring you must have for growth and value as a professional Airmen. The Basics features inspirational lead-off chapter quotes, step-by-step arrangement of the performance report’s accomplishment bullet statement’ sequence, which is important for documenting your job performance, and a 6-point key summary to reinforce your learning and help you to keep your job and career goals in sight. From goal setting, successfully performing to meet expectations, to serving others and self, “The Basics” cuts to the quick and provides you the means to get the job done well and touch and taste the promotion you earn! Chief Master Sergeant Mark C. Overton, USAF (Retired), is a graduate of the USAF Chiefs’ Leadership Course and earned a masters degree in computer resources and information management. During his twenty six years in the Air Force, Chief Overton’s background includes various duties in 25 communications-computer systems assignments and deployments at the unit, wing and numbered air force levels. Offering a rare perspective of serving as a chief master sergeant, retiree, key spouse mentor, and federal civilian employee, he has penned commentaries on leadership

As air battles with Japanese fighter planes increased over the Pacific toward the end of World War 2, the Submarine Lifeguard League was formed to rescue Allied aviators forced to either "hit the silk" or zoom their plane into the drink. The League helped save the lives of hundreds of Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots - including the life of future President George H. W. Bush - from Japs as well as from death at sea. Author Adm. Charles Lockwood (Hellcats of the Sea, Sink 'Em All ) brings his usual flair for submarine stories to his eye-witness account of events, providing a breathless narrative of the hair-raising adventures of this little-known sub-division of the US Naval Fleet.

Six months after North Korea invaded the south, the United States along with Allies under the United Nations entered what was called a Policing Action. The United States had troops stationed in South Korea and immediately mobilized to combat the illegal invasion. The Conflict would last three years and would end with an Armistice but no surrender by the North. This Armistice is still in effect today. The U.S. lost 33,000 men in that war.