Kevin Maurer

What a book, what a man. This is the story of Maj.(ret.) John Luckadoo, who served in the 8th Air Corp during WWII flying a B-17 bomber over Nazi Germany. And what a story it is. As a Second Lieutenant he was at the controls of this iconic warplane and the harrowing encounters he experienced and survived are amazing.

The famous bombing missions during the war are well chronicled but none of us could come close to knowing what these men endured and sacrificed. But this book does define and deliver on the courage, bravery, and certainly terror these men faced. Many never returned from the skies on what seemed impossible missions. It can be debated whether some of the decisions made by command were wrong or even fool hardy. But the men assigned to carry them out should forever be honored by us all, as everything they did to carry them out was truly heroic.

Maj. Luckadoo certainly is one of these heroes and his ordeal in the skies and his losses, including his best friend, are heart rendering. He did his job well, he served his country as pledged, he completed his 25 missions. Hats off to you sir.

His life after service also played out well despite some of the snafus he encountered in the bureaucratic military system. He married the love of his life and went on to a successful career. And now at 99 is still with us. And his personal message at the end of the book is something everyone needs to read and respect. This comes from a man who served his country putting his life on the line as so many did, and he leaves us with a measure of what it all means in the end.

I had my own encounters with a few other of these great men from that war. My father served with a bomb group in the 15th Air Corp in southern Italy. I also met and got to know one of the pilots of the 8th while out cycling, one of my hobbies. All of these men who served during this time deserve our sincere respect and gratitude. They will soon all be gone. But never forgotten.… (mere)

This was a fantastic book and I am pretty sure that I annoyed everyone I work with because I wouldn't stop talking about this book! My first question every time I had a meeting was "Do you like to read?" and even if the answer is no, I told them how amazing this story is and how even if they only read one book this year, this is the book they should read.

I work in Civil Aviation and it was really cool to learn about the planes that John “Lucky” Luckadoo trained on and flew. I can't imagine being asked to fly a plane into enemy territory with the amount of training they received.

Kevin Maurer does a fantastic job of telling Lucky's story. I cried a lot during this book, some happy tears but most were sad tears. Lucky outlived so many of his friends and fellow soldiers. I googled the heck out of Lucky as soon as I was done reading because I had to know if he was still alive.

Thank you Lucky for everything you sacrificed and thank you Kevin for telling the story.… (mere)