Showing results for "b" in Military

John Comer kept a journal of the 25 missions he flew in 1943, when the casualty rate on his base was close to 80 percent. His book is handwritten history, recorded within hours after the battles occurred. Comer vividly creates his experiences as top-turret gunner/flight engineer in a B-17 squadron that was thrown against the best pilots the Luftwaffe could offer.

Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress. Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian bombing sorties would have been impossible.

The first and only biography of intrepid attorney James B. Donovan, who was recruited by the CIA during the Cold War to broker near-impossible negotiations - now the basis for Steven Spielberg's Cold War film Bridge of Spies. Charming, bold, and good humored, James Donovan was a larger-than-life figure who led a fascinating and magnificently varied career, primarily as a negotiator on behalf of prisoners.

A 2026 Audie Award Finalist for Audiobook of the Year NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Magisterial…A stunning account that brings to the fore the nuclear saga’s surreal combination of ingenuity, fate, and terror.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “If you are an intelligent...

No era in world history has fascinated us more than that of the Roman Empire, especially when it was at its height. The period known as the Pax Romana is generally agreed to have occurred between Octavian's defeat of Mark Antony at Actium in 27 B.C. to the death of Marcus Aurelius in A.D.180. During this 227-year period, most of the sharp military conflict was confined to the periphery of the empire, though the civil war kicked off during the Year of the Four Emperors in 68/69 was a glaring exception to this "universal" peace.

In 1944 and 1945, Tom Faulkner was a B-24 pilot flying out of San Giovanni airfield in Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force of the US Army Air Forces. Only 19 years old when he completed his 28th and last mission, Tom was one of the youngest bomber pilots to serve in the US Army Air Forces during World War II. Between September 1944 and the end of February 1945, he flew against targets in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia.

James "Jim" Davis lived what he considered "an impossible dream" as he piloted a B-24, as part of the 8th Air Force, on nearly 30 missions in the European Theatre during World War II. In this memoir, Davis offers heart-wrenching detail concerning the difficulties of qualifying for the U.S. Army Air Forces pilot program, the strenuous nature of the pilot training program, the anxiety caused by a wartime marriage, and the dangers of flying combat missions over Nazi Germany.

Unstoppable is the ultimate immigrant story and an epic David-and-Goliath adventure. While American teens were socializing in ice cream parlors, Siggi was suffering beatings by Nazi hoodlums for being a Jew and was soon deported along with his family to the darkest place the world has ever known: Auschwitz. Siggi used his wits to stay alive, pretending to have trade skills the Nazis could exploit to run the camp. After two death marches and near starvation, he was liberated from camp Mauthausen and went to work for the US Army hunting Nazis.

This is the nonfiction memoir of a young pilot, Bert Stiles, who flew 35 missions in the B-17 Flying Fortress over Germany and Italy during World War II. At 22 years of age, Stiles left college and joined the American Air Force. The next year he began his tour of duty as a copilot of a B-17, flying missions high over Germany, Italy, and other European targets, bombing cities far below.

For the first time, the full and complete story of the B-17 Flying Fortress Susan Ruth is shared in unbelievable detail. Author Steve Snyder's story of his father, Lieutenant Howard Snyder, and the Susan Ruth crew, provides in-depth details about many aspects of World War II few understand or know about.

The discovery of Robert E. Lee's Special Orders No. 191 outside of Frederick, Maryland, on September 13, 1862, is one of the most hotly disputed events of the American Civil War. For more than 150 years, historians have debated if George McClellan, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, dawdled after receiving a copy of the orders before advancing to challenge Lee's forces. Authors Gene Thorp and Alexander Rossino document in exhaustive fashion how "Little Mac" in fact moved with uncharacteristic energy to counter the Confederate threat and take advantage of Lee's divided forces.

The Civil War is one of the most well-documented and studied periods in American history, yet despite the volumes written on its causes, battles, and leaders, there remain countless lesser-known stories and intriguing facts that often slip through the cracks. These overlooked moments—small but significant—are what make history so fascinating, revealing the complexities and human experiences that shaped the course of the war.

The remarkable true story of Eugene Fluckey, the US Navy’s most innovative—and aggressive—submarine commander of World War II Over the course of five combat patrols during the Pacific War, Commander Fluckey reinvented submarine warfare, pioneering audacious strategies to hunt and sink...

Welcome to The Forgotten Pages of World War I: 101 Interesting and Lesser-Known Facts of WWI. This book is designed to shine a light on the lesser-known aspects of one of the most complex and impactful conflicts in human history. World War I, often overshadowed by the global events that followed, was a war of immense scale and consequence. It not only reshaped the political and geographical landscape of the 20th century but also left lasting scars on societies and cultures across the world.

The Vietnamese stole their land. The NVA raped their daughters. The Green Berets know them as the most fearless and loyal warriors in the land. They were the Montagnards, who called themselves “Sons of the Mountains” and always fought to the death. In this incredible memoir of wall-to-wall combat in the jungle near the Laotian border, Special Forces Lieutenant Don Bendell recounts the saga of the A camp of Dak Pek, 242.

Through engaging narrative and first-person accounts, B-17 Flying Fortress Restoration captures the painstaking restoration of a World War II-vintage Boeing B-17 bomber by more than 100 volunteers in Pooler, GA. Airplane restoration and military aviation enthusiasts alike can follow the airplane's journey from the storage hangers of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to the Combat Gallery of the Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.

Historian Nora Titone takes a fresh look at the strange and startling history of the Booth brothers, answering the question of why one became the nineteenth-century’s brightest, most beloved star, and the other became the most notorious assassin in American history. The scene of John Wilkes...

American History, Volume 1 surveys the broad sweep of American history from the first Native American societies to the end of the Reconstruction period, following the Civil War. Drawing on a deep range of research and years of classroom teaching experience, Thomas S. Kidd offers students an engaging overview of the first half of American history. The volume features illuminating stories of people from well known presidents and generals, to lesser-known men and women who struggled under slavery and other forms of oppression to make their place in American life.

J. E. B. Stuart: The Soldier and the Man is the first thoroughly scrutinized study of the life and service of the Civil War's most famous cavalryman. James Ewell Brown Stuart led the Army of Northern Virginia's cavalry to the all-but-complete satisfaction of his superiors. Being human, Stuart occasionally underperformed.

As Robert E. Lee's army moved into Pennsylvania in June 1863, Stuart's cavalry screened his movements, thereby engaging in the more traditional cavalry roles. This time, however, as Lee began his march north through the Shenandoah Valley in western Virginia, it is highly unlikely that is what he wanted or expected.