7 Books for the WWII History Lover
/My son is captivated by the WWII era. Anything pertaining to air crafts, tanks, and guns he is all in for learning more about them. With his research comes stories of men who served to keep the evil from completely taking over the world. Because of him talking about some of them, I began my own search of these men and found books that told their stories. I literally stumbled over one in the bookstore while looking for one my son requested. It opened a door for me.
7 Books for the WWII History Lover
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As with any war-themed movies and books, don’t be surprised with some of the language you find in some of the books. If you can ignore that then the stories written on the pages will give you a look at the lives of those being written about. Men who answered the call to fight for freedom.
This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them,
George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. What happened to the other eight remained a secret for almost 60 years.
After the war, the American and Japanese governments conspired to cover up the shocking truth, and not even the families of the airmen were informed of what happened to their sons. Their fate remained a mystery–until now.
FLYBOYS is a tale of courage and daring, of war and death, of men and hope. It will make you proud and it will break your heart.
I will forewarn you about chapters 1-5 as it is graphic on the subjects of rape and murder. Further into the book the subject of cannibalism is shared.
“On April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers under the command of daredevil pilot Jimmy Doolittle lifted off from the deck of the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to pummel Japan’s factories, refineries, and dockyards in retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor. The rail buoyed America’s morale, and prompted an ill-fated Japanese attempt to seize Midway that turned the tide of the war. But I came at a horrific cost: an estimated 250,000 Chinese died in retaliation by the Japanese. Deeply researched and brilliantly written, Target Tokyo has been hailed as the definitive account of one of American’s most daring military operations.”
“For more than fifty years, it was stored in a soldier’s footlocker. One of the most remarkable tales of American military history, The War Journal of Major Damon “Rocky” Gause is one man’s chronicle of his incredible 159 days escape from the infamous Bataan Death March and harrowing voyage across the enemy-held Pacific in a leaky, wooden boat during World War II.”
This is the book I stumbled upon. It turns out that Major Gause was a local man who lived in our area. There is a highway named in his honor.
From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen E. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.
This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal—it was a badge of office.
In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.
Doolittle’s Raid was only the opening act of Cole’s flying career during the war. When that mission was complete and all of the 16 aircraft had crash-landed in China, many of the survivors were assigned to combat units in Europe. Cole remained in India after their rescue and was assigned to Ferrying Command, flying the Hump of the Himalayas for a year in the world’s worst weather, with inadequate aircraft, few aids to navigation, and inaccurate maps. More than 600 aircraft with their crews were lost during this monumental effort to keep China in the war, but Cole survived and rotated home in 1943. He was home just a few months when he was recruited for the First Air Commandos and he returned to India to participate in Project 9, the aerial invasion of Burma.
December 1943: A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler—and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger…
What happened next would defy imagination and later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.”
Bonus:
Fiction Books for the WWII History Lover
If you’ve seen the movies of the next three and never read the books. You must read the books!
Are you a history lover? What history era is your favorite to read about?
