Here, one of America’s most popular military historians
re-creates, using their own moving and powerful voices, the true
stories of the U.S. Marine pilots who flew the Allies to victory in
World War II. These riveting accounts recreate conflicts ranging
from the Marines’ gallant defense of Wake Island, where Captain
Henry “Baron” Elrod destroyed two enemy planes before joining the
fight on the ground, earning a posthumous Medal of Honor in the
last-ditch attempt to stave off the Japanese, to the Battle of
Midway and Guadalcanal.
Running the gamut from Second Lieutenant Alvin Jensen’s
single-handed destruction of twenty-four grounded Japanese aircraft
on Kahili to Lieutenant John W. Leaper’s sawing off a Kamikaze’s
tail with his propeller over Okinawa, these thrilling oral
histories of the Pacific war’s air battles bring them to life in
all their terror and triumph.