8TH AIR FORCE AT WAR — Memories and missions, England 1942-45
Prix régulier 30,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| ISBN-13 | 9781852604448 |
| ISBN-10 | 1852604441 |
| Book cover finish(es) | Hardcover ( round back binding ) |
| Special Features | • Dust jacket |
| Condition | Like NEW |
| Author(s) | Martin W. Bowman |
| Publisher | Patrick Stephens Limited |
| Number of pages | 216 |
| Published date | 1994 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Size | 19.5 x 25.5 x 2 cm |
| Categorie(s) | • AVIATION MILITAIRE • SECONDE GUERRE MONDIALE • BASES AÉRIENNES - ESCADRILLES |
Description
Half a century on, this major collection of memorabilia recalls with moving clarity the life and times of the United States Eighth Air Force, based in Eastern England during World War II to provide the daylight strike arm of the Allied round-the-clock bombing offensive over Germany and occupied Europe. From the airmen themselves, and from the English people living near the bases who opened their hearts and homes to the high-spirited young heroes, has been gathered a wealth of anecdotes, poems, diary extracts, stories, photographs, cartoons and advertisements, most of them never before published. They provide both an intimate record of the war years and a tribute to the courage and dedication of all those involved.
They were painful years. Life expectancy was short for the airmen of the United States Eighth Air Force in Britain during World War II, tasked with providing the daylight strike arm of the Allied round-the-clock bombing raids over Germany and occupied Europe. But the time they did have was lived to the full, and the people of Eastern England, where the Americans were based, took those brave young men to their hearts.
Half a century on, the memories remain fresh. This major collection of eye-witness anecdotes, letters, stories, diary extracts, poems, photographs and cartoons — most of them never before published — recalls those years with extraordinary clarity. Meticulously researched from U.S. Army Air Forces service personnel and British civilians who were there, it is a “warts and all” record.
The book tells of the horrors of combat, the glory and grief, the religious beliefs and superstitions, the discipline of military life, even courts-martial and a murder. There is plenty of humour, of course — along with glimpses of social adventures on “pass” to London, romantic interludes, and the enduring warmth shared by the American visitors and the local population once each side had grown accustomed to the other’s “foreign” ways.