The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany (Paperback)

But what do you expect from a American Historian? The book altogether is very good, but to sum it up the allies couldn't of done it without the help of each other, and i feel that is what all books like this miss.

Review: My father served on the ground in England as part of the famous Eighth Air Force in World War II. My father-in-law was a navigation instructor for bomber pilots during World War II. Although both men are proud of their service, they only tell the positive side of the air war in Europe. During rare moments over the years, they have alluded to some of the more personal and challenging sides of those years. My mother shares hints of some recurring nightmares from what other wives have told her at Air Force reunions. Although Professor Ambrose's account is not as dark as the worst that I have heard, his lively and thorough narrative helped me to fill in many spaces where I lacked understanding of what these men had shared with me. For example, my dad had told me that the Fifteenth Air Force often had it worse than the Eighth late in the war. Since The Wild Blue focuses on the Fifteenth, I was able to understand what he was describing for me. I look forward to sharing this book with both my father and father-in-law and hearing what their reactions are to the material here. Very few books have ever helped me to understand these important men in my life as much as this one did.

I have always been impressed by former senator McGovern's commitment to peace and humanitarian concerns. I knew that he had been a bomber pilot in World War II, but little else about his war-time service. The book contains many interesting insights into his character that added to my admiration, and increased my understanding of the stands he has taken. As he characterized his experience of being a pilot, 'I literally exhausted every resource of mind and body and spirit that I had.' You will find these revelations more interesting if you read about them yourself, but I encourage you to pay close attention to stories about bombs dropped inadvertently.

Professor Ambrose has used accounts from many different people to capture the full dimension of the air war. I learned so much that I find it hard to believe that the book was so brief. Normally, I wouldn't learn this much from a book of 1000 pages. The mechanism of primarily following former senator McGovern's squadron was a good way to capture the grit of the small details while using them to illustrate the important, larger picture. Each perspective enhances the other.

The book also contains some excellent black-and-white photographs that usefully elaborate on the written materials.

I liked the way that Professor Ambrose took on the moral issues involved in the bombing. The civilian deaths were enormous from these raids, even though civilians were not the targets. Briefings described the important cultural sites in each area, and ordered the bombers to avoid them. Some bombing raids went near the death camps, but did not target them. At various times, the rate of lost crews approached suicidal levels. How much risk was it fair to ask these brave crews to take? Without imposing his own answers, he provides lots of room for your own thoughts on these and other important ethical issues.

I was powerfully moved by imagining myself in the various cramped positions in a B-24 over enemy territory, being exposed to danger and observing serious losses of my friends all around. Although I have seen many movies and television shows on this subject, The Wild Blue took my understanding of this experience to a much different and more personal level.

After you have finished learning from this outstanding book, I suggest that you think about ways that your most private experiences can be captured and shared with your children and grandchildren . . . so that the important lessons will be available to all those who need them in the future.

Learn from the challenges of the past to overcome the hurdles of the future.