Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The Berlin Airlift-June 1948-May 1949 | 
| Author: Richard Reeves
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
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Rating:  7 reviews
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1St Edition
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 1416541195
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.1550874
EAN: 9781416541196
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| • | ISBN13: 9781416541196 | | • | Condition: USED - VERY GOOD | | • | Notes: |
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Product Description
In the early hours of June 26, 1948, phones began ringing across America, waking up the airmen of World War II—pilots, navigators, and mechanics—who were finally beginning normal lives with new houses, new jobs, new wives, and new babies. Some were given just forty-eight hours to report to local military bases. The president, Harry S. Truman, was recalling them to active duty to try to save the desperate people of the western sectors of Berlin, the enemy capital many of them had bombed to rubble only three years before. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had ordered a blockade of the city, isolating the people of West Berlin, using hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers to close off all land and water access to the city. He was gambling that he could drive out the small detachments of American, British, and French occupation troops, because their only option was to stay and watch Berliners starve—or retaliate by starting World War III. The situation was impossible, Truman was told by his national security advisers, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His answer: "We stay in Berlin. Period." That was when the phones started ringing and local police began banging on doors to deliver telegrams to the vets. Drawing on service records and hundreds of interviews in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, Reeves tells the stories of these civilian airmen, the successors to Stephen Ambrose’s "Citizen Soldiers," ordinary Americans again called to extraordinary tasks. They did the impossible, living in barns and muddy tents, flying over Soviet-occupied territory day and night, trying to stay awake, making it up as they went along and ignoring Russian fighters and occasional anti-aircraft fire trying to drive them to hostile ground. The Berlin Airlift changed the world. It ended when Stalin backed down and lifted the blockade, but only after the bravery and sense of duty of those young heroes had bought the Allies enough time to create a new West Germany and sign the mutual defense agreement that created NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And then they went home again. Some of them forgot where they had parked their cars after they got the call.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
New View of An Old Topic January 18, 2010
David W. Overton (Vermont)
29 out of 29 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book. As Tom Brokaw suggests on the dust cover, it is highly readable. It is also important history that has been covered in quite a few other books, but, remarkably, there seem to be many people who are unfamiliar with that history or prone to confuse it with the much later building of the Berlin Wall.
The author is able to mingle important events with some very engaging miniportraits of participants at all levels in the crisis. The German residents of Berlin are given voices, and the German airplane loaders and mechanics are real people here. His book is also unlike other works by American writers by giving more space and detail to the British/Commonwealth contribution to the airlift.
I feel I am a good test of the book's merits because I lived in Berlin during the blockade as an American dependent and joined many others in watching the American planes land at Tempelhof and the occasional British Sunderland land on Wansee. I have also read many other books on this topic. Without taking anything away from a fine piece of work, I would suggest that there are a few places where the proofreading left a little to be desired. For example, the General Clay I remember lived around the corner from us in a district called Dahlem, not Darmstadt as the author suggests at two points.
Overall, a fine contribution to the literature.
Absorbing history written by a superb writer January 24, 2010
John E. Drury (Washington, DC United States)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
To Richard Reeves, the Berlin Airlift was more that an eleven month heroic effort to supply the beleaguered Berliners; it was the true beginning of the Cold War, the pre-launch for the ultimate unification of Germany, and the beginning of the modern air cargo transport business. Reeves skillfully weaves together airmens' tales, Berliners recollections and the histories of the likes of Harry Truman, Ernest Bevan, Willy Brandt, Lucius Clay, William Tunner and others to give the reader a complete, satisfying and often wry recounting of heroism, extraordinary generosity and human kindness. This is a wonderful book for World War II history and aviation buffs alike.
Great Read! January 19, 2010
Jason E. (Los Angeles, CA)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Great read! I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II/Cold War history or aviation history.
The book is easy to read and fun as well -- it really reads like a novel. Plus, as an American, it is great to read about our armed forces doing the impossible -- keeping a city alive through only air support. The human side was also really touching as the pilots making the airlifts -- now called "angels in uniform" by the Berliners -- were many of the same pilots who made the devastating bombing runs just a few years before.
The airborne version of Dunkirk February 9, 2010
wogan (Indiana&Maryland- U.S.A.)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Richard Reeves writes an historical account that reads like a novel. You can really see everything with his ability to form pictures with his words. Reading this is like listening to my father and his old brown boot army buddies; I felt like I was back there years ago listening to these men tell of their problems and triumphs. He has captured their spirit and stories, in his descriptions of Clay, of the stoppages of trains and convoys into Berlin as the crisis grew. Even glide ratios are given and technical details are made interesting and blended into the narrative
The book is amazingly complete; no where else have I read the stories of the `lost wives' club, how the families of the pilots and ground personnel ordered into service had to leave their wives and families and the problems they experienced. It is so good to have recorded the stories of the enlisted men, which so many historians overlook. There is much written about Lt. Gail Halvorsen who became renowned as the candy bomber.
As someone who flew into Templehof in the 70's and stayed in Berlin; I can attest to the fact that no where else in Europe were Americans more loved and respected than in Berlin. Everyone had personal stories that they loved to tell
The stories of the problems and triumphs are all told; including the crashes and loss of life. The airlift was not all wonderful; the frustrations are presented, the bone weariness and low morale are described as well as the elation of a mission accomplished. This is an unbelievable true story that should not be forgotten and this book has presented its' history in a well done chronicle worth reading.
BERLIN AIRLIFT 1948 January 24, 2010
James L. Woolridge (Sunny Florida)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Berlin airlift was the start of the Cold War. The Soviets challenged and Truman answered with a huge victory. This is n easy to read history of the airlift by a respected author, Richard Reeves winner of the American Political Science award and Time Magazines non fiction author of the year winner. This is a book to read and remember and then past to your friends so that we never forget what tyrants can do and what this airlift meant to American resolve. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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