At 7:42 on the morning of March 14th, 1941, Beatatric Schilling stood on the tarmac at RAF Kennley watching a hurricane pilot climb into his cockpit for what might be his last mission. 32 years old, 6 years at the Royal Aircraft establishment, zero solutions to the problem that was killing her pilots. The Luftwaffa…
At 1:50 in the morning on May 24, 1944, Soundman Secondclass John Prock pressed his headphones tight against his ears and listened to the ocean 300 ft below USS England. The destroyer escort rolled gently in the darkness north of the Admiral T Islands. Proc had been tracking submarines for 6 hours straight. His back…
In the frozen snow choked hellscape of December 1944, the German war machine, a beast long thought to be dying, had roared back to life with a horrifying final fury. Hitler’s last desperate gamble, the massive Arden offensive, known to history as the Battle of the Bulge, had ripped a massive bleeding hole in the…
There is perhaps no other sound, no other shape, and no other aircraft in all of history that has left such an impression as the Ju87 Stooka. Being a doubted and uncommon design type, it was nearly scrapped before it was ever started. But against all odds, this infamous dive bomber would wreak havoc across…
At 11:47 a.m. on May 29th, 1943, Captain James Hartwell climbed into the cockpit of his B7 at RAF Alenbury, watching the ground crew load the last belt of 50 caliber ammunition into the modified bombers’s 17th gun position. 26 years old, 42 combat missions, zero experience in what he was about to fly. The…
The doorbell rang on a Thursday morning. I opened it to find a young woman I’d never seen before. I’m Sophia, she said. I’m Daniel’s daughter. I hadn’t heard my son’s name spoken out loud in 25 years. Not since the morning I found my husband on the floor, the safe behind him hanging open,…
At 11:14 a.m. on January 11th, 1944, Major James Howard circled his P-51B Mustang four miles above Osher Slaben, Germany, watching 30 German fighters dive towards 60 unprotected B7s below. The 33-year-old Howard had flown 86 combat missions in China with the Flying Tigers, but today marked only his 37th day flying the controversial new…
At 0742 on May 27th, 1940, Captain Jack Churchill crouched behind a crumbling stone wall near the French village of Lepinet, watching five German soldiers advanced through the morning mist toward his position. 33 years old, 14 years since Sandhurst, zero confirmed kills in combat. The Vermacht had already crushed Poland in 36 days. Now…
The door opened and a homeless teenager walked into my bookstore. 16 years old, dirty clothes, worn backpack. She asked if I was hiring. I should have said no, but when I looked at her face, I froze. She looked exactly like someone I knew, someone I hadn’t spoken to in 2 years. And when…
At 0900 on February 19th, 1945, Corporal Tony Stein crouched behind a shallow depression in the black volcanic sand of Ewima, gripping a weapon his sergeant had called a stupid idea 3 months earlier. 23 years old, six combat missions, zero conventional kills. The Japanese had fortified every meter of this 8 square mile rock…