In this outstanding book of reminiscences, edited by World War Il flying ace Laddie Lucas, airmen of the Second World War recall the most memorable characters they met in the air forces. Drawn from both sides of the conflict and from every theatre of the war, the book is an amazing testimony to courage and heroic achievement in war.
Here are intimate, first-hand portraits of the famous and the not-so-famous, from immortal heroes of the air like Leonard Cheshire, Douglas Bader and Johnnie Johnson to the men and women behind the scenes, from legendary Commanders-in-Chief like Sir Arthur ('Bomber') Harris to the pilots, their air and ground crews and operational personnel. Here, remembered for their courage, comradeship, humour or powers of leadership are the young American pilot poet John Magee, tragically killed at the age of nineteen; the flying Italian prince Gianni Caracciolo, decorated personally in the field by ll Duce; Don Blakeslee, brilliant fighter leader of the US Eighth Air Force; Japan's legendary black sheep, Lt Sadaaki Akamatsu; Werner Molders, the Luftwaffe's outstanding tactician, and the New Zealander with nine lives, Al Deere.
Squadron Leader Richard Murdoch remembers Wing Commander Kenneth Horne; former Home Secretary Merlyn Rees recalls his remarkable CO in Italy in 1943, Group Captain Duncan Smith, and Group Captain Peter Townsend salutes the quiet courage of the pilot prince who became King George VI.
A truly international volume, with contributions from Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, South Africa, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Laddie Lucas's book is a marvellous collection of wartime stories and characters. Written by some of the most distinguished veterans of the war in the air as a tribute to their comrades, Thanks for the Memory brings together thrilling true-life tales of rescue, tragedy and survival, great air battles and great escapes.