Kirkus Review
"Fong chronicles the Allied defeat of the German Luftwaffe during World War II and his own participation in the bombing campaigns. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the author aspired to assist in the war effort; specifically, he longed to join the Flying Tigers, an all-volunteer unit of pilots deployed to China to help defend it from Japanese invasion.
In 1943, shortly after Fong graduated from high school in San Francisco, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, though he was disqualified from flight training due to poor eyesight. He instead trained to become a tail gunner, and on the first day of 1945, he landed in Liverpool, England, to join the 735th Bombardment Squadron of the 453rd Bombardment Group. The author was part of a crew flying the B-24 Liberator, running bombing missions designed, among other things, to cripple the German Luftwaffe, which was absolutely necessary for the success of Operation Overlord.
In impressive detail, Fong recounts the 22 missions he participated in, including the bombing of Berlin, the “very heart of the Nazi regime.” The author exactingly situates those missions within their historical and military contexts and lucidly depicts their harrowing nature. He also provides a moving personal reflection on his own experience of the war and affectingly depicts the “extreme elation and apprehension” he felt when he flew his first mission a little more than two weeks after his arrival in England.
Fong mercifully avoids any melodramatic posturing or histrionic hyperbole—this is an understated work, brimming with scrupulously documented detail. In fact, the true power of the narrative, in addition to its historical rigor, is precisely this journalistic objectivity. While military histories about World War II are not in short supply, this is a marvelously concise and cleareyed account of the bombing campaigns against Germany.
A historically edifying monograph and a fascinating personal memoir." --Kirkus Reviews
Booklife Review
"A tailgunner on a bomber for the US Air Force in World War II, Fong writes with inviting clarity, offering up-close-and-personal accounts of each of the 22 missions that he flew in 1945 while also contextualizing how each fit into the wider mission of defeating Nazi Germany. In meticulous detail, he covers the widest objectives of the overall mission of the Allies while also focusing on the actual experience of what each mission was like. Among the revelations: how weather affected the sighting of targets and was the single biggest factor in whether a mission was even allowed to occur, as well as real-time changes in technology that altered the course of the war.
Fong covers all this chronological order, after opening with a brief account of his hopes of joining China’s Flying Tigers and fighting the Japanese invasion there, but a snafu led to him being sent to Germany instead. He briefly describes boot camp and training to be a crew member of the B-24 Liberator bomber before jumping into a detailed description of the desperate German offensive in Ardennes, later to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. In essence, the Allies had wiped out the German air force (the Luftwaffe) before the invasion of Normandy. Hitler, deranged in his final days, had ordered an all-out offensive to break through the Allied forces.
Touchingly honoring his heritage and the sacrifices and courage of Chinese-Americans, Fong details the challenge of destroying the industrial complex that allowed the Germans to build planes and tanks, as well as providing fuel for their vehicles, processes Fong played a part in disrupting in countless bomber missions designed to destroy airfields, factories, processing centers, and other industrial targets. Fong supplements his close-up and big-picture account with fascinating photos and maps that clearly relay military goals, plus a wealth of material in appendices.
Readers interested in the fine details regarding the end of the war will be fascinated."
"Fong chronicles the Allied defeat of the German Luftwaffe during World War II and his own participation in the bombing campaigns. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the author aspired to assist in the war effort; specifically, he longed to join the Flying Tigers, an all-volunteer unit of pilots deployed to China to help defend it from Japanese invasion.
In 1943, shortly after Fong graduated from high school in San Francisco, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, though he was disqualified from flight training due to poor eyesight. He instead trained to become a tail gunner, and on the first day of 1945, he landed in Liverpool, England, to join the 735th Bombardment Squadron of the 453rd Bombardment Group. The author was part of a crew flying the B-24 Liberator, running bombing missions designed, among other things, to cripple the German Luftwaffe, which was absolutely necessary for the success of Operation Overlord.
In impressive detail, Fong recounts the 22 missions he participated in, including the bombing of Berlin, the “very heart of the Nazi regime.” The author exactingly situates those missions within their historical and military contexts and lucidly depicts their harrowing nature. He also provides a moving personal reflection on his own experience of the war and affectingly depicts the “extreme elation and apprehension” he felt when he flew his first mission a little more than two weeks after his arrival in England.
Fong mercifully avoids any melodramatic posturing or histrionic hyperbole—this is an understated work, brimming with scrupulously documented detail. In fact, the true power of the narrative, in addition to its historical rigor, is precisely this journalistic objectivity. While military histories about World War II are not in short supply, this is a marvelously concise and cleareyed account of the bombing campaigns against Germany.
A historically edifying monograph and a fascinating personal memoir." --Kirkus Reviews
Booklife Review
"A tailgunner on a bomber for the US Air Force in World War II, Fong writes with inviting clarity, offering up-close-and-personal accounts of each of the 22 missions that he flew in 1945 while also contextualizing how each fit into the wider mission of defeating Nazi Germany. In meticulous detail, he covers the widest objectives of the overall mission of the Allies while also focusing on the actual experience of what each mission was like. Among the revelations: how weather affected the sighting of targets and was the single biggest factor in whether a mission was even allowed to occur, as well as real-time changes in technology that altered the course of the war.
Fong covers all this chronological order, after opening with a brief account of his hopes of joining China’s Flying Tigers and fighting the Japanese invasion there, but a snafu led to him being sent to Germany instead. He briefly describes boot camp and training to be a crew member of the B-24 Liberator bomber before jumping into a detailed description of the desperate German offensive in Ardennes, later to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. In essence, the Allies had wiped out the German air force (the Luftwaffe) before the invasion of Normandy. Hitler, deranged in his final days, had ordered an all-out offensive to break through the Allied forces.
Touchingly honoring his heritage and the sacrifices and courage of Chinese-Americans, Fong details the challenge of destroying the industrial complex that allowed the Germans to build planes and tanks, as well as providing fuel for their vehicles, processes Fong played a part in disrupting in countless bomber missions designed to destroy airfields, factories, processing centers, and other industrial targets. Fong supplements his close-up and big-picture account with fascinating photos and maps that clearly relay military goals, plus a wealth of material in appendices.
Readers interested in the fine details regarding the end of the war will be fascinated."