Author Description

"With 4800 pounds of "war power" bridled in his grip, two tons of high-explosive ordinance stowed just feet behind him in the hold of the bomb bay of his B-17 Flying Fortress, and with the lives of a crew of eight souls resting on his shoulders, 2nd Lt. Merle D. Green had come a long way from strapping in to the bucket seat cockpit of his father's old wood and canvas biplane back on the family farm. From out of the corn fields of central Illinois, follow the 23-year-old "duster" pilot as he begins the grueling process of readying for war and what would be the greatest, most deadly conflict in human history; "when the whole free world was in peril." Armed with aspirations of winning a spot among the glamorized flyboys of the US Army Air Forces, and with his sweetheart Rose Marie on his arm, Merle is assigned a crew of young, idealistic "bomber boys", eager to get into the scrap. Deployed to England where, high in the substratosphere they are exposed to the dirty business of high-altitude, strategic bombing, the flyers are ever at the mercy of the elements where sub-zero slipstreams instantaneously freeze bare skin to metal and the perils of the oxygen-poor environment constantly works against the fliers, danger lurks behind every cloudbank. Discover the indominable spirit of the Green Hornets'; shot out of the skies above Germany only to be hunted and captured by the enemy. Interrogated, imprisoned, abused, and near-starved, the airmen are left to wait out the war in one of the most despicable POW camps where vile overseers take pleasure doling out their violence. But just as the Reich begins to crumble, the men are forced to embark on an unbelievable odyssey that would test the depths of human perseverance. Based on recently discovered documents, international research efforts, previously unknown eyewitness accounts and material obtained from an archive of family memories, keepsakes, and legend, this great, never-before-told true story, where soldiers of the air wal