UNSUNG EAGLES

UNSUNG EAGLES                                        JAY STOUT
Posted: Sept. 17, 2013

The nearly half-million American air crewmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories. Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who in the aggregate actually won it. They are the recollections of your Uncle Frank who shared them only after having enjoyed a beer or nine, and of your old girlfriend s grandfather who passed away about the same time she dumped you. And of the craggy guy who ran the town s salvage yard; a dusty, fly-specked B-24 model hung over the counter. These are everyman accounts that are important but fast disappearing. Ray Crandall describes how he was nearly knocked into the Pacific by a heavy cruiser s main battery during the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea. Jesse Barker a displaced dive-bomber pilot tells of dodging naval bombardments in the stinking mud of Guadalcanal. Bob Popeney relates how his friend and fellow A-20 pilot was blown out of formation by German antiaircraft fire: I could see the inside of the airplane and I could see Nordstrom's eyes. He looked confused and then immediately he flipped up and went tumbling down. The combat careers of 22 different pilots from all the services are captured in this crisply written book which captivates the reader not only as an engaging oral history, but also puts personal context into the great air battles of World War II. Lt. Colonel (Ret.) Jay Stout is a former Marine Corps fighter pilot who flew F-4 Phantoms and F/A-18 Hornets during a military career from 1981 to 2001. A graduate of Purdue University, he has also written Fortress Ploesti, Hornets Over Kuwait, and Slaughter at Goliad.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:

A great book about men that wanted to fly and fight during World War II. This book starts out with a story of a young man who goes to fly with the RAF. What I did not know is that they came to the states looking for pilots. Of all of the history books that I have read this was the first one that even talked about that. Each chapter is a different story and a different part of the war. Some of these men went on to do great things even though at the time they thought all they were doing was escorting bombers. You could feel their frustration of not being a fighter pilot looking for other fighters. This book does give you the feeling that everyone had at that time of wanting to fight and if one branch did not take them they would go to the other one so they could get into the war. My father was the same way except he was with the 82nd airborne. This is a very good World War II. book and gives you a lot of information about the war and about the way we were as a country, was able to produce planes and pilots at a huge number that neither the Germans or the Japanese. This was a book I got off of Net Galley