This is the only publication of author Nick Cressy. Back from 44 – the Sacrifice and Courage of a Few: A Story of Heroism in the Skies over Western Europe was published in 2014.The author is the nephew of the airman who wrote the source journal. This is the 12th book I completed reading in 2023.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! I categorize this book as G. This is the journal of Nick Bentas, Staff Sergeant US Army Air Force. During WWII, he was part of the 320th Bomb Group based at Dijon- Longvic airfield in France. In the journal, he reminisces about his months in training as a Flight Engineer on a B-26. He talks about deployment to Sardinia, Corsica, and finally, France. He describes some of their missions. He also talks about how the crew became a tight group of friends. All of them were missing family back in the States.

I enjoyed the 7.5 hours I spent reading this 220-page WWII-era history. The book provides a first-hand look at the lives of a B-26 crew. There were moments of joy and sorrow. I like the chosen cover art. I give this book a rating of 4.3 (rounded to 4) out of 5.

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This book provides great insight into the war from the sky. It isn’t a perspective I read much about so it was definitely refreshing to read. I would recommend this book for older teens and older. So it is a bit too much for my grade level but still an excellent book!

i really enjoyed reading this book, it was a great historical read and the characters were great. I would look forward to more from the author.

If you pick this book up and thumb through it you really shouldn’t put it down! What at first sight seems simply a quite well-written account of a citizen airman, Nick Bentas, in the USAAF in late 1944 turns out to be so much more. The narrative, written by Nick Bentas’s nephew, is engaging and provides a compelling account of the life of an air gunner/flight engineer in the European Theatre of Operations, based on a contemporary diary. However, as the story unfolds it is revealed as so very much more. It is difficult to say more without spoiling the reading experience of readers. Suffice to say that the final pages of this book, with Bentas in a crippled B26 bomber struggling to return to his home base, highlight the price paid by the Allies to win the Second World War in a way that most accounts struggle to convey.

Highly recommended - a most intensely moving book.

An interesting account of life in USAF, on bombers in WW2. Told using first person narration, it's a vivid account of the war in the air, as well as life on the base. Written well, authentic dialogue, reminiscent of diary/journal entries.
Lest us forget.
Thanks to the author and Netgalley for this review copy.