I enjoyed the story of Doolittle and his raid on Japan. Many of the men's stories have been told in the past and have made fabulous books and movies. However, Bernard chose a different route with his book. The Shangri-la Raiders is about a fictional crew that was part of the raid. I would have enjoyed the book much more had it been about the real heroes. I also found the romance to be superfluous, actually detracting from the story of the raid. Thank you #NetGalley for allowing me to give my honest and voluntary opinion of #WhenHerosFlewTheShangrilaRaiders

Colonel Jimmie Doolittle and a squadron of sixteen, B25 Mitchell bombers took off from the deck of the USS Hornet to bomb the Japanese mainland in WW II. The first plane off the flight deck was Doolittle himself!

The training was done at numerous bases in the United States and then actual carrier training was done at Pensacola, Florida. The crews were selected from among the best B25 bomber crews in the Army Air Force.
After the bombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities, the planes flew to mainland China, as they had no way of getting back to the USS Hornet. The worry was that the planes would not be able to get to China after the bombing run. All of the crews were volunteers who knew that they may need to ditch in the ocean!

After bailing out over mainland China, the crews were frantically searched for by the Japanese. They were considered war criminals and would surely be executed upon capture.

The assistance of the Chinese people who were being brutalized by the Japanese military was at great personal risk. The crews escape back to U.S. held lines included hiding in the jungles of central China and getting aide along the way from the Chinese people who hated the Japanese. The story is a compelling read and heartwarming in the execution of the tale. 5 stars - CE Williams

Compelling, suspenseful and full of action, this war book is one to put on your must-read list for 2021!

Thank you to NetGalley & Severn River Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a great book! The writing was great, the telling of the story was excellent and I grew to care about every character. The descriptions of the flights, the jumps, the pain, the rice paddies, all of it, was some of the best I’ve ever read, there is one in particular that just took my breath away. I will definitely be reading the other two books in this series.
I always love true stories and especially when the author ends the book with letting us know how the characters lived by telling us the “rest of the story”. These men and “woman” were true heroes and I thank them for their service and sacrifices for our county. This one will go into my best war books read list. Highly recommend.
I was so excited to receive an ARC of this book from Severn River Publishing along with NetGalley for my unbiased review. I highly recommend and it comes in with 5 stars!!

'I suppose that's what happens in all wars. A point is reached where the killing itself becomes the focus, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, until all are sightless and toothless. The tactics become the strategy.'

When Heroes Flew: The Shangri-La Raiders is set against a part of history that I personally know very little of, and I found that wholly refreshing. Theoretically the second in a series, the book is a stand-alone that follows a young US lieutenant and his crew as they carry out a bombing mission in Japan and tells the story of their trek through China after crashing.

While the second part of the book pulled me in more than the first (which seemed somehow a bit staccato and factual, reading more like a journal than a story), the book overall painted a vivid picture and could well become the basis of a movie. Make no mistake, the book is gruesome in the picture it paints. It is about war after all, and the author does not shy away from showing the reality of that. If you have a hard time dealing with reading about the gore of war and enemies encountering enemies, this might not be your book.

I am not sure how I feel about the strong depiction of the Japanese as the ultimate bad-guys in this book (often with racial slur), but then again, it somehow makes sense as we are seeing and understanding the situation and the scenes from Boss' perspective.

Finally, I did enjoy the budding romance, as it added some lighter touches to an otherwise tough story. This is one for history buffs who enjoy military and/or WWII history. It was one of those rare books where the video played in my head as I was reading!

An truly inspirational book about the mission and subsequent escape by one of the crews who participated on the Doolittle raid over Tokyo. The story was compelling and suspenseful. I literally could not stop reading this book! A great must read for history fans!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.