Unsung Eagles

True Stories of America’s Citizen Airmen in the Skies of World War II

By: Jay A. Stout

Narrated by: Traber Burns

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The nearly half-million American air crewmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories.

Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who - in the aggregate - actually won it. They are the recollections of your Uncle Frank who shared them only after having enjoyed a beer, of your old girlfriend’s grandfather who passed away about the same time she dumped you, and of the craggy guy who ran the town’s salvage yard, a dusty, fly-specked B-24 model hung over the counter. These are “everyman” accounts that are important but fast disappearing.

Ray Crandall describes how he was nearly knocked into the Pacific Ocean by a heavy cruiser’s main battery during the second battle of the Philippine Sea. Jesse Barker, a displaced dive-bomber pilot, tells of dodging naval bombardments in the stinking mud of Guadalcanal. Bob Popeney relates how his friend and fellow A-20 pilot was blown out of formation by German anti-aircraft fire: “I could see the inside of the airplane - and I could see Nordstrom’s eyes. He looked confused...and then immediately he flipped up and went tumbling down.”

The combat careers of 22 different pilots from all the services are captured in this book that captivates the listener not only as an engaging oral history but also by putting personal context into the great air battles of World War II.

©2013 Jay A. Stout (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Loved it

A great collection of war stories from mostly unheralded fliers from WWII. Unlike so many other books, this includes fairly raw and unvarnished tales of ordinary men doing often extraordinary things. Thoroughly enjoyed the wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and post-war lives of the fliers.

Great personal histories.

I was fortunate to meet and talk to somewhere around a dozen veterans and hear there stories.

so glad I read this

Excellent read, the book allows you to read at your own speed, since each chapter is a short story.

Some wild and crazy stores

If you love WW2 aviation this is a book for you. Bunch of real stories from different pilots that flew in WW2

Stories. of Brave Men

Has excellent stories of American pilots who survived WWII and what happened to them after the war.

This story is a hidden gem 👍

Basically a bunch of short stories about the people that helped win the air war. A lot of parts had to be played, and sacrifices made by a lot of folks that won’t have movies or airports named after them. These are those guys.

True touching & gripping stories of young aviators in WW2

I love memoirs, bios, non-fiction, war stories, drama, friendships, heroism for the right reasons, and war aviation. This book rang all my bells and blew all my whistles! It is a collection of non-fiction short bios of common young men in WWII aviation, many enlisting before Pearl Harbor was bombed. Many started via civilian pilot training programs designed to find and train the best young men out there. The author follows each one from early interest to the epilogue of their post-service years. The men tell of their hopes, fears, gaffes (many hilarious, some tragic) and their war struggles and victories. This audioreader took on just the hint of an accent with each new character/chapter. It is excellent. With every putting down of the book, I was eager to pick it up again.

Thank you

Appropriately I finished this book on Veterans Day. As an American we should never forget the sacrifices made by so many to fight a this war. Thank you to every veteran. Thank you for collecting these stories before they are lost forever.

Excellent book!!

This is a wonderful group of stories about the working man’s heroes we never hear about. I’m going to listen to this one again and again.

Good Stories

The author repeated already stated facts. It was very interesting to hear these heroes talk about going from their ordinariness to the greatest generation. Acknowledging their fear unlike movie portrayals of heroes.