Colonel Charles E. McGee fought in World War II in Korea and in Vietnam. He holds the record for the highest three-war total of fighter combat missions of any pilot in the U.S. Air Force history. His military service began as one of the Tuskegee Airmen in the 332nd famed pioneers who fought racial prejudices to fly and fight for their country in World War II. They are the ones who achieved the unequaled record of not losing a single bomber under their escort to enemy fighters. COL McGee we...

“No heroes, everyone did their part, and everyone was scared to death.”They are the words of soldier Mark W. Harms in 1968, summing up his combat experience during the Vietnam War. His stunning letter home is just one of hundreds featured in this unforgettable collection, Letters from Vietnam. In these affecting pages are the unadorned voices of men and women who fought–and, in some cases, fell–in America’s most controversial war. They bring new i...

As the country's first African American military pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen fought in World War II on two fronts: against the Axis powers in the skies over Europe and against Jim Crow racism and segregation at home. Although the pilots flew more than 15,000 sorties and destroyed more than 200 German aircraft, their most far-reaching achievement defies quantification: delivering a powerful blow to racial inequality and discrimination in American life. In this inspiring account of the Tuske...

"A terrific book, lively and brisk . . . a must read for anyone who tries to understand the Vietnam War ." —Thomas E. RicksIs it possible that the riddle of America's military failure in Vietnam has a one-word, one-man answer?Until we understand Gen. William Westmoreland, we will never know what went wrong in the Vietnam War. An Eagle Scout at fifteen, First Captain of his West Point class, Westmoreland foug...

They became America’s first black paratroopers. Why was their story never told? Sibert Medalist Tanya Lee Stone reveals the history of the Triple Nickles during World War II.World War II is raging, and thousands of American soldiers are fighting overseas against the injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, the injustice of discrimination against African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Enlisted black men are segregated ...

From transforming the ways of war to offering godlike views of inaccessible spots, revolutionizing rescues worldwide, and providing some of our most-watched TV moments—including the cloud of newscopters that trailed O. J. Simpson’s Bronco—the helicopter is far more capable than early inventors expected. Now James Chiles profiles the many helicoptrians who contributed to the development of this amazing machine, and pays tribute to the selfless heroism of pilots and crews. A virtual...

In this riveting narrative history, women veterans from the world wars, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq tell their extraordinary stories.Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee spent fifteen years combing through archives, journals, histories, and news reports, and gathering thousands of eyewitness accounts, letters, and interviews for this unprecedented chronicle of America’s “few good women.” Women today make up more than fifteen percent of the U.S. armed forc...

Napalm was invented on Valentine’s Day 1942 at a secret Harvard war research laboratory. It created an inferno that killed over 87,500 people in Tokyo—more than died in the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki—and went on to incinerate 64 Japanese cities. The Bomb got the press, but napalm did the work. Robert Neer offers the first history.

The former enlisted Marines whose stories you will read in this book have a common thread.The common thread is that they became one of the few, the proud, the Marines. They joined and entered the Vietnam war when their country called. They fought and returned home to adjust to normal lives by themselves. These are the life stories, told in their own words, of how Marine Corps vets came home, built families, businesses and are living the American dream today. Many still live their l...

"A surprisingly exciting history" of the US Air Mail Service's early years and the daredevil pilots who risked their lives ( Publishers Weekly)."An enthralling saga, told in a smooth and agile style."— Associated PressNicknamed "the Suicide Club," the pilots of the air mail service were a brash collection of World War I aces who returned as heroes from Europe looking for a way to continue their obsession with flying. At a ti...

Few industrial phenomena have been as dramatic as the United States’ mid-20th-century shift from peacetime to wartime production. The American Aircraft Factory in World War II documents the production of legendary warbirds by companies like Boeing, North American, Curtiss, Consolidated, Douglas, Grumman, and Lockheed. It was a production unmatched by any other country and a crucial part of why the allies won the war.Author Bill Yenne considers the prewar governmental acts ...

Equally appealing for classroom use and general readers, this book provides a fresh approach to understanding the American combat soldier's experience in Vietnam that integrates such topics as the political culture, the experiences of training, the actual Vietnam experience, and the "homecoming."