The Final Mission of Bottoms Up: A World War II Pilot's Story (Volume 1)

American Military Experience

by Dennis R. Okerstrom

On November 18, 1944, the end of the war in Europe finally in sight, American copilot Lieutenant Lee Lamar struggled alongside pilot Randall Darden to keep Bottoms Up, their B-24J Liberator, in the air. They and their crew of eight young men had believed the intelligence officer who, at the predawn briefing at their base in southern Italy, had confided that their mission that day would be a milk run. But that twenty-first mission out of Italy would be their last.            Bottoms Up was staggered by an antiaircraft shell that sent it plunging three miles earthward, the pilots recovering control at just 5,000 feet. With two engines out, they tried to make it to a tiny strip on a British-held island in the Adriatic Sea and in desperation threw out everything not essential to flight: machine guns, belts of ammunition, flak jackets. But over Pula, in what is now Croatia, they were once more hit by German fire, and the focus quickly became escaping the doomed bomber. Seemingly unable to extricate himself, Lamar all but surrendered to death before fortuitously bailing out. He was captured the next day and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at a stalag on the Baltic Sea, suffering the deprivations of little food and heat in Europe’s coldest winter in a century. He never saw most of his crew again.            Then, in 2006, more than sixty years after these life-changing experiences, Lamar received an email from Croatian archaeologist Luka Bekic, who had discovered the wreckage of Bottoms Up. A veteran of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, Bekic felt compelled to find out the crew’s identities and fates. Lee Lamar, a boy from a hardscrabble farm in rural northwestern Missouri, had gone to college on the GI Bill, become a civil engineer, gotten married, and raised a family. Yet, for all the opportunity that stemmed from his wartime service, part of him was lost. The prohibition on asking prisoners of war their memories during the repatriation process prevented him from reconciling himself to the events of that November day. That changed when, nearly a year after being contacted by Bekic, Lamar visited the site, hoping to gain closure, and met the Croatian Partisans who had helped some members of his crew escape.            In this absorbing, alternating account of World War II and its aftermath, Dennis R. Okerstrom chronicles, through Lee Lamar’s experiences, the Great Depression generation who went on to fight in the most expensive war in history. This is the story of the young men who flew Bottoms Up on her final mission, of Lamar’s trip back to the scene of his recurring nightmare, and of a remarkable convergence of international courage, perseverance, and friendship. 

266 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2011

Reviews

[Jessica Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Far too often history books are dry books that may contain interesting facts, but you have to slog your way through page after page of dry text to find them. This is NOT the case with Dennis R. Okerstrom's The Final Mission of Bottoms Up. Okerstrom brought the story of this Liberator co-pilot to life from his beginning training to flying missions to being captured and imprisoned to visiting the wreckage of his downed plane decades later. I read this book over a year ago and this book still crosses my mind on a regular basis. Anyone who loves history, especially WWII history, should read this book immediately. It is truly a one of a kind gem.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really enjoyable book - this true story is not about "famous" people but about some regular fighter pilots in WWII. It is very well written and even the technical aspects of the bombers was easy to understand. The descriptions give the reader a much better understanding of the lives of these men; there are many heartwarming parts especially the resolution at the end.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkably fine story of Lee Lamar, copilot of the B-24 Liberator named Bottoms Up, which was lost in combat over Yugoslavia in late 1944. When remains of the wreck are rediscovered in 2005 by a Croatian archaeologist, it sets in motion a sequence of events that leads Lamar and his family back to the scene where the last few minutes of the Bottoms Up played out.

The most fascinating part of the story for me was the revelation of how difficult it was for Lamar to discover the fates of his fellow crewmembers. There was no mechanism in place during or after the war to facilitate the sharing of such information. Once the men bailed out of the crippled plane, most of them completely lost touch with each other until well after the war ended. That includes the one regular member of the crew who was missed flying on the final mission due to illness - his story is the most poignant of all.

Highly recommended.