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An Innocent at Polebrook: A Memoir of an 8Th Air Force Bombardier
This is a true story about aninnocent 18-year old plucked from his small hometown in California who foundhimself at 19 riding in the nose of a heavy bomber under conditions he couldnot possibly have imagined. The book explores the excruciating tension betweenhis innocence and the raw reality of war. As a bombardier riding in a Plexiglas compartment, the author had a unique vantage point from which he could behold grand vistas. He witnessed the beauty of clouds and the highaltitude sky, the ever-changing scene below of sea, mountains, rivers and towns. But he also observed armadas of bombers stretching out ahead like flocksof geese, the horrifying barrages of black antiaircraft fire, the menace ofenemy interceptors and the heartbreaking spectacle of wounded bombers. This book follows the everyday activities of a bombardier in the 8th Air Force during World War II. There are no heroics in this account other than thecourage of men who performed their jobs despite withering enemy opposition andthe ever-present specter of sudden death. It is a collage of agonizingapprehensions, numbing fright, occasional pride, bitter disappointments, abjectloneliness, fits of anger and even good times. The author wrote the book in 1st person, present tense so that, in a sense, the reader could ride with him inthe glassed-in nose of a B-17. He bolstered his recollections of each missionwith raw facts gleaned from tattered and yellowing mission reports that are filed in neat folders in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and from numerous letters sent to andkept by his parents.
- GenresHistoryWorld War II
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 2, 2019
Like the letter home he could never write, until now!
Charles was almost 80-years-old when he wrote his Memoir, some 60 years after the fact about his hazardous flight duty in WWII. Still, just like it was yesterday!
Charles flew 34 missions as a Bombardier, in the nose of a B-17 bomber over enemy territory in both France & Germany from Polebrook, England, in the summer of 1944. Luckily, he survived the war, to live a long & healthy life, thankfully.
While, almost 2,000 guys were lost in more than 300 missions from Polebrook between 1943-1945, as Charles wrote; ‘During my tour of duty, from June 14 to September 22, 1944, the 8th Air Force lost 810 heavy bombers, 495 B-17s & 315 B-24s. During the same period, we lost 31 planes from our field at Polebrook. On a single day, September 12th 1944, the 8th Air Force lost 35 planes, most of them B-17s, on the raid to Ruhland, Germany, 6 of those belong to our group.’
Each B-17 heavy bomber, also called a Flying Fortress held 10 crew members captive in a restricted space with no contemporary accommodations other than portable oxygen masks & heated flight suits; otherwise, no comfortably pressurized cabin, or friendly stewardess with free drinks, or movies & music, or even a bathroom on those long 10-hour flights, almost every day! I can’t imagine the cramped conditions coupled with the critical stress, as every airman surely hoped & prayed that their plane would return safely to home base, at Polebrook! Meanwhile, they had to fly through flak explosions that could rip a hole through the plane at any moment & meanwhile, maintain a constant barrage of return machine-gun fire against the relentless attacks from enemy fighters, who tried their best to shoot down the B-17 laden with lethal bombs, before it reached the target.
Formation was key & good weather also an advantage, yet the fact that missions were flown in broad daylight, sometimes with friendly escort fighters, or sometimes not! And that’s when everyone prayed the most fervently!
I liked this book because of Charles’ perceptive & eloquent reflection about such a pivotal time in his adolescence, which by default became vividly etched in his young mind for the rest of his life. Although, those combat years were more than a lifetime ago! He seemingly remembers everything about his 100 days at Polebrook, like an indelible stain on his memory that will never go away, or be easily forgotten.
I can’t imagine the sights & sounds that Charles witnessed or the traumatic sense of helplessness, as he watched other planes from Polebrook blown out of the sky; like, a 3D movie viewed from within a cramped & cold plexiglass fortification, with an altogether helpless sense of abject consternation for the whimsey of war & the ruthless knowledge that everybody was just a statistic, ostensibly, however lucky or not!
As Charles wrote at the start of his uncertain adventure; ‘I’m 19-years-old, and every moment that passes brings me closer to combat, a business that I know little about. I’m not an aggressive man. I’ve never hurt anyone in my life that I know of, and I don’t hate anybody, yet I’m on my way to inflict damage on the enemy, a flagrantly aggressive act, and for that they will rightfully attempt to kill me.’
I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in WWII history or combat as a perilous occupation, especially young people who need to understand the actual people caught in the dreadful ramifications of global conflict & the ultimate insanity of war, as a stalemate to the alternative of peace & prosperity, instead. It just might be possible, if we never forget & pay our respects, like reading this book!
Review by Jack Dunsmoor, author of the book OK2BG
Charles was almost 80-years-old when he wrote his Memoir, some 60 years after the fact about his hazardous flight duty in WWII. Still, just like it was yesterday!
Charles flew 34 missions as a Bombardier, in the nose of a B-17 bomber over enemy territory in both France & Germany from Polebrook, England, in the summer of 1944. Luckily, he survived the war, to live a long & healthy life, thankfully.
While, almost 2,000 guys were lost in more than 300 missions from Polebrook between 1943-1945, as Charles wrote; ‘During my tour of duty, from June 14 to September 22, 1944, the 8th Air Force lost 810 heavy bombers, 495 B-17s & 315 B-24s. During the same period, we lost 31 planes from our field at Polebrook. On a single day, September 12th 1944, the 8th Air Force lost 35 planes, most of them B-17s, on the raid to Ruhland, Germany, 6 of those belong to our group.’
Each B-17 heavy bomber, also called a Flying Fortress held 10 crew members captive in a restricted space with no contemporary accommodations other than portable oxygen masks & heated flight suits; otherwise, no comfortably pressurized cabin, or friendly stewardess with free drinks, or movies & music, or even a bathroom on those long 10-hour flights, almost every day! I can’t imagine the cramped conditions coupled with the critical stress, as every airman surely hoped & prayed that their plane would return safely to home base, at Polebrook! Meanwhile, they had to fly through flak explosions that could rip a hole through the plane at any moment & meanwhile, maintain a constant barrage of return machine-gun fire against the relentless attacks from enemy fighters, who tried their best to shoot down the B-17 laden with lethal bombs, before it reached the target.
Formation was key & good weather also an advantage, yet the fact that missions were flown in broad daylight, sometimes with friendly escort fighters, or sometimes not! And that’s when everyone prayed the most fervently!
I liked this book because of Charles’ perceptive & eloquent reflection about such a pivotal time in his adolescence, which by default became vividly etched in his young mind for the rest of his life. Although, those combat years were more than a lifetime ago! He seemingly remembers everything about his 100 days at Polebrook, like an indelible stain on his memory that will never go away, or be easily forgotten.
I can’t imagine the sights & sounds that Charles witnessed or the traumatic sense of helplessness, as he watched other planes from Polebrook blown out of the sky; like, a 3D movie viewed from within a cramped & cold plexiglass fortification, with an altogether helpless sense of abject consternation for the whimsey of war & the ruthless knowledge that everybody was just a statistic, ostensibly, however lucky or not!
As Charles wrote at the start of his uncertain adventure; ‘I’m 19-years-old, and every moment that passes brings me closer to combat, a business that I know little about. I’m not an aggressive man. I’ve never hurt anyone in my life that I know of, and I don’t hate anybody, yet I’m on my way to inflict damage on the enemy, a flagrantly aggressive act, and for that they will rightfully attempt to kill me.’
I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in WWII history or combat as a perilous occupation, especially young people who need to understand the actual people caught in the dreadful ramifications of global conflict & the ultimate insanity of war, as a stalemate to the alternative of peace & prosperity, instead. It just might be possible, if we never forget & pay our respects, like reading this book!
Review by Jack Dunsmoor, author of the book OK2BG
November 24, 2017
Boring. I kept thinking this book would get better. It did not.
March 31, 2023
It was like reading all the stories my grandfather never told me about his bombing missions in Europe.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews