Anybody into WW II books?

Whizzer

Whizzer

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Just finished a pretty decent WW II book titled, A Higher Call, written by Adam Markos. A good story of a B-17 pilot and his experience with a German Fighter Ace. Pretty amazing when you think how bomber and fighter pilots were kids fresh out of high school and many not yet 21.
 
I have read a bunch over the years. "Run Silent Run Deep" and "God is my co-pilot" are a couple of my favorites.
 
They are sort of standards and excellent books.
This is a recent book and if you like WW II stories, here are a couple more suggestions. All are easy to read and not cluttered with infinite detail. I have ADD (means I suck at math) and tend to go for the easy reads.
Try Flag of our Fathers and Fly Boys, both by the same author, James Bradley. Master of the Air by Donald L. Miller, is a good read also. This book has some amazing statistics (although a bit more statistical than other books mentioned, it is interesting statics for those lousy at math and interested in WW II trivia, facts and figures and planning, or lack thereof. It tells of horrendous hardships and massive losses suffered by bomber crews sent over Germany.

A couple of pieces of trivia:
Do you know that around 1938, there were more men in the New York City Police Department than there were men serving as U.S. Marines?

Or the U.S. Army Air Corps lost more men in battle than did the U.S. Marines in all battles fought during WW II?

This is not to try to trivialize the Marine Corps but to point out how unprepared the U.S. was prior to war with Japan and while heroes came from all branches of the military, air men suffered staggering losses over Europe. Consider that every time a B-17 bomber was shot down, ten lives were lost.
 
Yeah I knew about the air corps. "flying fortress" should have been called the sitting duck. Daylight bombing was nuts. The merchant marine also suffered tremendously heavy losses. The highest rate of casualties of any service some say. They didn't keep good records of the merchant marine. Over 60 million total killed in WW2, largest in history.
 
We hear very little about the non-military aspect of WW II. Merchant Marines took one helluva beating in the early stages of the war mostly because of personal disagreements and infighting between high ranking officers. I recently came across some information on the munber of ships lost off the coast of North Carolina alone and they were staggering! I'll see if I can find it and now that you mention it, will try to find some reading material relating to the Merchant Marines. Those guys were tough going on the open seas without protection or with limited protection and defense.
 
I have one called "the Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat. It's a true story about a British Corvette captain who escorted convoys in the Atlantic.
 
Not a WWII book but I've been reading one called "The Coldest Winter" by David Halberstam. It's about the Korean War actually. Good read.
 
Whizz, Robert Morgan's "The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle" is good. BTW, he was from Ashville. Besides the book that was based on the HBO hit "The Band of Brothers", Richard Winters wrote "Beyond the Band of Brothers" and "Brothers in Battle" covers two of the men from Easy Company.
 
Will make it a point to read the book on the Memphis Belle soon as I get through a few of those already picked up. Appreciate the tip.

Just picked up The Band of Brothers from Wake County library. Currently reading Given up for Dead

The story about a marine wounded on Wake Island with a complete history of how and why the U.S. was there before WW II. So far a good read with many interesting details for a guy with ADD. (I'm deficient in math, can't ADD) :rolleyes:
 
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