Recollections of the Great War in the Air

Recollections of the Great War in the Air PDF Author: James McConnell
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473846757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
“The memoir of . . . an American pilot flying with the famous French Flying Corps’ American Layfayette Escadrille and provides a unique personal insight.”—Firetrench In 1915 James Roger McConnell enlisted as a US volunteer in the French Flying Corps. He was part of a remarkable band of American volunteers which were formed into the famous Lafayette Escadrille, which was then based at Verdun. This book brings his personal account of the war, Flying for France, to a new generation of readers. His memoirs produce an amazing insight into the early aerial battles and trace the evolution of aerial warfare as the rickety aircraft of 1915 rapidly evolved into the purpose-built fighters of 1917. Casualties among the American Escadrille were very high and McConnell’s own luck finally ran out when he was ambushed by two German fighters and was killed in action in March 1917. His gripping and detailed memoir of the war is his lasting memorial; his honest account of the everyday life of a pilot in the Great War is matched only by Sagittarius Rising. However, his dramatic description of the battlefield of Verdun viewed from above is one of the classic descriptions of any wartime memoir and is unmatched by any other Great War writer. “Resurrects an important part of the first-person literature of the Lafayette Escadrille. A long-lost gem.”—Over the Front “The memoir and letters give a surprising amount of detail about the pilot’s life and tactics employed. McConnell’s story is certainly an interesting one and this is a short and easily digestible introduction to the life of a First World War pilot.”—WW1 Geek

Recollections of the Great War in the Air

Recollections of the Great War in the Air PDF Author: James McConnell
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473846757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Get Book Here

Book Description
“The memoir of . . . an American pilot flying with the famous French Flying Corps’ American Layfayette Escadrille and provides a unique personal insight.”—Firetrench In 1915 James Roger McConnell enlisted as a US volunteer in the French Flying Corps. He was part of a remarkable band of American volunteers which were formed into the famous Lafayette Escadrille, which was then based at Verdun. This book brings his personal account of the war, Flying for France, to a new generation of readers. His memoirs produce an amazing insight into the early aerial battles and trace the evolution of aerial warfare as the rickety aircraft of 1915 rapidly evolved into the purpose-built fighters of 1917. Casualties among the American Escadrille were very high and McConnell’s own luck finally ran out when he was ambushed by two German fighters and was killed in action in March 1917. His gripping and detailed memoir of the war is his lasting memorial; his honest account of the everyday life of a pilot in the Great War is matched only by Sagittarius Rising. However, his dramatic description of the battlefield of Verdun viewed from above is one of the classic descriptions of any wartime memoir and is unmatched by any other Great War writer. “Resurrects an important part of the first-person literature of the Lafayette Escadrille. A long-lost gem.”—Over the Front “The memoir and letters give a surprising amount of detail about the pilot’s life and tactics employed. McConnell’s story is certainly an interesting one and this is a short and easily digestible introduction to the life of a First World War pilot.”—WW1 Geek

Flights of Passage

Flights of Passage PDF Author: Samuel Hynes
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 9780747578116
Category : Bomber pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
A gripping, literary recollection of a pilot's experiences during WWII.

Revolt in the Desert

Revolt in the Desert PDF Author: Thomas Edward Lawrence
Publisher: London : J. Cape 1927.
ISBN:
Category : Arab countries
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Abridqement of the author's Seven pillars of wisdom. Illustrated lining-papers. Includes index.

Recollections of the Great War

Recollections of the Great War PDF Author: Francis Buckley
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473866596
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
This rare primary source account is the story of the hard fighting battalion of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, which saw action on the Somme, Passchendaele and in the Battle of Arras. This wonderfully detailed account provides a rare insight into the experiences of the common soldier on the front line during some of the bitterest conflicts of the war.Unembellished and unwavering in his account, Francis Buckley here records not only the events of the battles he fought in, but also provides an emotional tribute to the heroism of the friends he made and lost during his time in the field. As well as his fellow troops of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, Buckley also remembers, with great fondness, the bravery of the officers and men of the 149th Infantry Brigade, and of the 50th Division. His recollections here provide a poignant reminder of the true human cost of war in the modern age.

Missions Remembered

Missions Remembered PDF Author: Middle Tennessee WWII Fighter Pilots Association
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 9780070016491
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
From bailouts to belly landings, flaming cockpits to lurching carrier decks, here are the heoic tales of pilots from all backgrounds, united by a desire to fight their country's enemy to the finish. Drawn from a small corner of Tennessee, these men flew in all theatres of combat, in every front-line fighter aircraft. They soared to victory in the air--and fled from capture on the ground. This is a memorable anthhology of combat tales with great appeal both for veterans and historians.

Shot at and Missed

Shot at and Missed PDF Author: Jack R. Myers
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806180307
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
In this riveting narrative, Jack R. Myers recounts his experiences as a B-17 bombardier during World War II. Commissioned a second lieutenant in 1944 at age twenty, Myers began flying missions with the 2nd Bomb Group, U.S. Fifteenth Air Force. He learned firsthand the exhilaration—and terror—of being shot at and missed. Based in Italy, the Fifteenth Air Force flew strategic bombing raids over southern Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, and Czechoslovakia. Less celebrated than the Eighth Air Force, which flew out of England, the Fifteenth, nevertheless, was pivotal in dismantling the German industrial complex. Myers offers an insider’s view of these missions over southern and central Europe. The reader goes with him into the highly exposed Plexiglas nose of the Flying Fortress, flying with him through the flak-filled skies of Europe and peering with him through his Norden bombsight at Axis targets. On average, a heavy-bomber crewman survived only sixteen bombing missions. Myers survived his allotted thirty-five missions before being honorably discharged in 1945.

Yanks Meet Reds

Yanks Meet Reds PDF Author: Mark Scott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
How World War II ended in Europe. What happened when the Allied advance from the west met the Soviet attack from the east as told by U. S. & Soviet veterans who were there at the Elbe River April 25, 1945. Their impressions 40 years later. Elements of the U. S. 69th Division meet forces of Gen. Zhadov's 5th Guard Army at Strehla. How two 104th "Timberwolves" captured a cousin of the famed Red Baron. How for 32 hours, between the American & Soviet lines, they were held prisoners of Totemkopf troops that were threatened with Nazi reprisal if they surrendered, & annihilation if they didn't. How they influenced the considerations of SS commanders sweating out the dilemma while Hitler decided whether to die in the Alps or Berlin. The observations of Studs Terkel & Andy Rooney who reported the historic meeting for Stars & Stripes, & Ann Stringer who filed the first news story with UPI. A moving expression of hunger for peace & the sacrifices required to attain it.

The Great Leap Forward

The Great Leap Forward PDF Author: Jon Markowski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
From German-occupied Poland to the sickle of communism, this memoir will take you deep inside hidden basements, along icy mountain passes, amidst false identities, harrowing near misses and, finally, to freedom. Join the author as he journeys from childhood to adulthood during one of the most horrific times in modern history.

The Great War

The Great War PDF Author: Kellen Kurschinski
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 1771120517
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
The Great War: From Memory to History offers a new look at the multiple ways the Great War has been remembered and commemorated through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Drawing on contributions from history, cultural studies, film, and literary studies this collection offers fresh perspectives on the Great War and its legacy at the local, national, and international levels. More importantly, it showcases exciting new research on the experiences and memories of “forgotten” participants who have often been ignored in dominant narratives or national histories. Contributors to this international study highlight the transnational character of memory-making in the Great War’s aftermath. No single memory of the war has prevailed, but many symbols, rituals, and expressions of memory connect seemingly disparate communities and wartime experiences. With groundbreaking new research on the role of Aboriginal peoples, ethnic minorities, women, artists, historians, and writers in shaping these expressions of memory, this book will be of great interest to readers from a variety of national and academic backgrounds.

I Saw Them Die

I Saw Them Die PDF Author: Shirley Millard
Publisher: Quid Pro Books
ISBN: 1610279557
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
This true contemporary account of an American nurse's horrific and sometimes bizarre experiences while serving at a French battlefield hospital near Soissons during World War I has poignant layers which even the often naive author did not see. "As our camion drove through the chateau gate we could see that the grounds were covered with what looked like sleeping men." That is just her own introduction to the unit, housed in what was once a country estate, and soon she was standing hours on end treating friend and enemy alike, facing harrowing hyperreality with aplomb. Shirley Millard is throughout a willing reporter of her fascinating perspective on war, youth, loss, and love -- and always slapdash surgery and gallows camaraderie, inside a MASH unit before there was M*A*S*H. And before antibiotics, it is painfully clear. But she is also an unwitting reporter of so much more. The modern reader sees truths and wrongs that Shirley fails to experience herself, some at the time and too many upon rested reflection. Even some of the pronouns she uses reveal herself and the understory more than she ever realized. The book compels attention not only on the level on which she wrote it, which would be enough to bring crashing home this forgotten war, but also on levels hidden to her. Either way the insights pierce through, as when the young French doctor sums up war: "La gloire, la gloire! Bah! C'est de la merde!" He is a hero too, but has his own incongruous scenes later, just in his smoking habits alone. This collection of diary entries and later flashbacks may be the second greatest personal account of World War I, behind that by the much more self-aware Erich Remarque (though readers here may find themselves drawn into the lack of awareness as much as the account itself). Yet this book seems to have been lost in time and the crush of later events. As Time reviewed it in 1936, "Spare, simply written diary of a young, red-haired U.S. volunteer nurse in French hospitals near the front lines of 1918, in which romantic interludes heighten rather than ease a grisly atmosphere." It is that, but there is a lot more to it. And much of the writing is deeper than that, and certainly crisp and evocative in prose, even if some of the depth is more for the reader than the author. Includes penetrating new Foreword by law professor Elizabeth Townsend Gard, who studied the genre as part of her Ph.D. research in History at UCLA. The original book, and its incongruities and twists revealed by Townsend Gard, will stick with you. Previously only available as a rare book, now returned to its place in poignant history. This book, though listed as "trade" or could be read by college adults, will have as its principal audience the general reader and young adults. It would be an excellent, fairly brief book to assign to classes in High School and possibly Middle School. Although some of its scenes are stark and upsetting, and one would be cautioned to have YAs read it much as would be true of the candor of All Quiet on the Western Front, it has no other aspects which would make it inappropriate for minors and allows excellent discussions of war, class, race, nationalism, medicine, unsung women in war, foreshadowing and subtext, and many other themes that the author herself did not mean to raise. In other words, since the writer speaks on one level, and does not realize the other levels she touches, it would help to develop readers' critical skills to share their opinions about what she is missing in her own text. And in the process there will be no concern that the book would be inappropriate for YAs except that some of the medical and casualty moments are, of course, brutal. Also available in ebook and digital formats.