Pincus Mansfield (28 September 1924-15 June 2019) kept silent about his war experiences serving with the 453rd Bomb Group but his son,Howard,the book's author found his flight logs and began searching for the truth.The 453rd Bombardment Group was first organized at Wendover Field, Utah on 1 June 1943,with the 732nd, 733rd, 734th,and 735th Bombardment Squadrons assigned as its original elements. It then moved to Pocatello Army Air Field, Idaho, where it was brought up to strength and trained with Consolidated B-24 Liberators. The group completed its training at March Field, California, in December before departing for the European Theatre of Operations, with the ground echelon embarking on 2 December. The ground echelon arrived at the group's combat station, RAF Old Buckenham, on 23 December 1943. By January 1944, it was fully established at Old Buckenham with the arrival of the air echelon. The 453rd flew its first mission against an airfield at Tours on 4 February 1944.Toward the end of February, the squadron took part in Big Week, the concentrated attack on the German aircraft manufacturing industry.The group also engaged in air support and air interdiction missions. It bombed V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket launch sites, airfields,and coastal defence guns to prepare for Operation Overlord.On D-Day, it struck coastal fortifications between Le Havre and Cherbourg Naval Base and enemy positions inland from the landing area. It made attacks on enemy troops to support Operation Cobra,in July 1944. It bombed German lines of communication during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. In September 1944, it flew rations, gasoline and blankets to advancing troops in France. During Operation Varsity,it dropped medical supplies,food, and ammunition to troops at the bridgehead.The squadron flew its last mission on 12 April 1945, and was withdrawn from combat to prepare for possible redeployment to the Pacific.Hollywood star James "Jimmy" Stewart, was group operations officer during the spring of 1944.The group's 733rd Bombardment Squadron flew 82 consecutive missions without a loss,a record for Eighth Air Force bomber units.

Father. Grandfather. Farmer. Engineer. Clerk. WWII Badass. Wait. What? While this book focuses more on the air war over Britain and Europe, it does in fact get to the heart of what so many of us born in the post WWII era have only been learning over the last 20-30 yrs or so: Our fathers (in the case of Boomers/ maybe Gen Xers) or grandfathers (for Millenials and Zoomers) that we knew as just that (+ whatever occupation they may have had as we knew them) had experiences during WWII that most of the rest of us can never imagine. For Mansfield's dad and his dad's fellow Airmen, Mansfield does a fairly thorough job of combining the personal and the global, of showing both where his dad was and when and also what was going on in the overall war effort - at least as it related to the air war over Europe and what the fliers encountered up there.

Personally, as the grandson of a pair of Infantrymen who both survived the Battle of the Bulge (and one of whom became a legit hero during its mop-up, earning a Silver Star and Purple Heart, while the other became one of the first to liberate the concentration camps on the American side of the war), I was hoping for more of a general look at this entire phenomena, of our fathers and grandfathers choosing to remain silent about their experiences during this pivotal time in human history, rather than the far more personal and specific look we get here - but that is more my own fault than the author's. My own pre-conceptions and desires, rather than any fault of the author's motivations or writing skills.

Indeed, the only actual fault vis a vis the writing itself is the dearth of a bibliography, despite the author clearly doing quite a bit of research. So that was the star deduction right there, simply for that. Beyond the lack of bibliography though, this really was an excellent look at the Air War in the European Theater as it was felt by the people flying as crew in the bombers themselves.

Truly an excellent book anyone remotely interested in that era and in particular that facet of that era will very much enjoy and may find quite informative. Very much recommended.

The author’s father didn’t want to talk about his experiences as a B-24 gunner, yet he left a diary of his missions. The author has researched the war to learn what his father experienced. It’s all familiar to anyone well-versed with WWII. Emphasis is placed on how the horror and guilt over killing in the war is what led to many veterans’ silence.