Purchase
Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman and POW (World War II: the Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension)
Fordham University Press
April 2005
On Sale: April 1, 2005
133 pages
ISBN: 0823223663
EAN: 9780823223664
Hardcover
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction Memoir
This book is a rare and important gift. One of the few
memoirs of combat in World War II by a distinguished
African-American flier, it is also perhaps the only account
of the African-American experience behind barbed wire in a
German prison camp. Alexander Jefferson was one of 32 Tuskegee Airmen from the
332nd Fighter Group to be shot down defending a country that
considered them to be second-class citizens. A Detroit
native, Jefferson enlisted in 1942, trained at Tuskegee
Institute, Alabama, became a second lieutenant in 1943, and
joined one of the most decorated fighting units in the War,
flying P51s with their legendary--and feared--"red tails." Based in Italy, Jefferson flew bomber escort missions over
southern Europe before being shot down in France in 1944.
Captured, he spent the rest of the war in Luftwaffe prison
camps in Sagan and Moosberg, Germany. In this vividly detailed, deeply personal book, Jefferson
writes as a genuine American hero and patriot. It’s an
unvarnished look at life behind barbed wire--and what it
meant to be an African-American pilot in enemy hands. It’s
also a look at race and democracy in America through the
eyes of a patriot who fought to protect the promise of
freedom. The book features the sketches, drawings, and other
illustrations Jefferson created during his nine months as a
"kriegie" (POW) and Lewis Carlson’s authoritative background
to the man, his unit, and the fight Alexander Jefferson
fought so well.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
| 
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy