Review published in
The 92nd USAAF/USAF Memorial Association Quarterly Newsletter
March 12, 2010.
For This Marvelous Country – Book Review
Steven Schultz | April 15, 2010
For This Marvelous Country: Counting on Me to Get Them Back Home. By Carol Rose Offutt.
Self Published, 2009. 155 pages, softcover. $16.00.
Carol Rose Offutt provided a great service by sharing her father’s letters found tucked away in a shoebox
This book recounts the World War Two story of US Army Air Force B-17 pilot Bill Rose through a combination of memoir excerpts and contemporary "letters home." It provides a fascinating first-hand glimpse into the life of an USAAF bomber pilot during the war.
Just prior to the outbreak of World War Two, Bill Rose was working as a mining engineer in Nicaragua. On his way back to the states, he learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Once home, Rose decided to enlist in the Navy after a recruiter promised he’d be promoted to Chief Petty Officer based on his prior Naval Reserve service. However, when he showed up for his oath, his papers indicated he was being sworn in as a 3rd Class Petty Officer. Not satisfied, Rose refused to take the oath. He tried volunteering with Naval Air, but was rejected due to not having the correct college experience. Finally, he volunteered for the Air Corps and was accepted into the Air Cadet Program.
Graduating from pilot training, Rose trained as a B-17 aircraft commander. He and his crew were assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force and sent to England in 1943. He completed 25 missions, including the deadly Schweinfurt raid in October 1943. Returning to the states, Rose served as a B-17 pilot instructor. Volunteering for a second tour, he returned overseas in 1945, where he completed an additional 24 missions.
During his first tour, Bill struck up a correspondence with his radio operator’s sister, Mary Margaret "Marg" Cline. His letters to her, intermixed with his apparently unpublished memoirs, describe his daily life as a B-17 combat pilot and as a bombing pilot instructor. His memoirs include details of his harrowing mission during the Schweinfurt raid. His letters to Marg after he returned to the US and was serving as a flight instructor show that those duties often proved as dangerous as combat flying. He describes some of his in-flight emergencies, including having to shut down problematic engines in flight, and he speaks of another crew perishing on a training mission in bad weather. The letters also hint at Rose and Cline’s developing relationship throughout the war. Although Rose was briefly engaged to a girl in Ohio, towards the end of the war he and Marg got engaged, and they married when Rose returned from Europe following his second tour.
This book’s author, Carol Rose Offutt, is the daughter of Bill and Marg Rose. This work is clearly a labor of love for her. It’s a tribute to her parents and all the combat veterans of World War Two. The book is self-published and is available through the author’s Website.
As with most "personal story" works, I suspect readers will either thoroughly enjoy this book or find they do not like it. I don’t suspect there will be much middle ground. If you’re looking for a fact-based history lesson of the strategic air campaign in Europe or technical information about the B-17 and its combat role, this is not the book for you. However, if you enjoy getting a rare glimpse into the daily life of a combat pilot and instructor during World War Two, as well as a feel for life during the war, you will likely thoroughly enjoy this book. As a former USAF tanker pilot with combat operational experience, I fell into the second group and completely enjoyed learning about an operational pilot’s life during World War Two.
Aviation and Military Book Reviews |
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For This Marvelous Country is the inspiring true story of a B-17 Flying Fortress combat pilot in the 92nd Bomb Group, 8th USAAF, in Europe during WWII. Bill, Captain William B. Rose, recounts his first twenty-five combat missions, including the epic air raids on Schweinfurt and Brunswick. In 1943 Marg wrote a letter to Bill, the pilot of her brother’s crew. The letters they shared were “friendly, but not familiar”; a reflection of Bill’s military training. Bill returns to Europe in 1944 for a second combat tour in the B-17. At the end of the war in 1945, Bill and Marg, two strangers who shared the cares and concerns of wartime through correspondence, found themselves in a quandary - “Where do we go from here?” Bill accomplished a monumental task by completing two combat tours as a B-17 bomber pilot in Europe during WWII. This book pays homage to him and to all who served and are presently serving. It will inspire future generations to remember our veterans and to discover the patriotic fervor exemplified by the WWII generation. Excerpt - Chapter Three; Bovingdon was a Combat Crew Replacement Centre. We were instructed for two weeks by combat veterans, on what to expect and how to evade if we were fortunate enough to land on the continent. We learned how to ditch the B-17 and the action of the Air Sea Rescue. Upon completion of our training, we were assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group at Podington. Our group was assigned to the 326th Bomb Squadron. I remember the squadron commander telling me that if I could get by the first seven missions, I would have a chance of completing my tour of twenty-five missions.
I asked him how many missions he had been on. “Five”, he replied. He went down on his next mission. |
| Link: | Many thanks to Carol Rose Offutt for the review copy;
buy it here |
| Rating: | Highly recommended!
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For this Marvelous Country - Counting on me to get them back home |
Book format and details: |
Title: | For this Marvelous Country - Counting on me to get them back home |
Author: | Carol Rose Offutt |
ISBN: | ISBN-10: 0615336051
ISBN-13: 978-0615336053 |
Format: | Paperback, 215 x 140mm, 155 pages |
Publ. date: | December 2009 |
For this Marvelous Country - Counting on me to get them back home |
Aviation and Military Book Reviews at www.controltowers.co.uk © robert truman November 20 |
