History

Title: Lost Eagles
Author: Blaine Pardoe
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0472117521

Few people have ever heard of Frederick Zinn, yet even today airmen's families are touched by this man and the work he performed in both world wars. Zinn created the techniques still in use to determine the final fate of airmen missing in action. The last line of the Air Force Creed reads, "We will leave no airman behind." Zinn made that promise possible.

Blaine Pardoe weaves together the complex story of a man who brought peace and closure to countless families who lost airmen during both world wars. His lasting contribution to warfare was a combination of his methodology for locating the remains of missing pilots (known as the Zinn system) and his innovation of imprinting all aircraft parts with the same serial number so that if a wreck was located, the crewman could be identified. The tradition he established for seeking and recovering airmen is carried on to this day.

Title: Keeping the Promise: The Story of MIA Jerry Elliott, a Family Shattered by His Disappearance, and a Sister's 40-Year Search for the Truth
Author: Donna Elliott
Reviewer: Stephen Phillips

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1555716709

Synopsis of the book, submitted by the author.

Title: Gated Grief: The Daughter of a GI Concentration Camp Liberator Discovers a Legacy of Trauma
Author: Leila Levinson
Genre: Creative Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Autobiography, History
Reviewer: Weymouth Symmes

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1934980552

After the death of her father, a World War II Army doctor, Leila Levinson discovered a concealed box of shocking photos he had taken of victims of a Nazi slave-labor camp. "A foot emerged from the chaos of countless bodies, a leg. Grotesquely frozen faces. My fingers turned the photo over: Nordhausen, Germany, April 12, 1945."
Intuiting that the photos might be clues to her father’s cold silence and detachment, his intolerance of grief or sadness, she became a detective, finding and interviewing dozens of World War II veterans who also liberated Nazi concentration camps. Veteran after veteran demonstrated ongoing pain and shock. “My mind froze.” “I was never the same.”
Still traumatized by the unimaginable horrors they found, most of the veterans have spoken very little of what they witnessed, not even to their spouses or, as decades passed, to their adult children and grandchildren. “No words could convey the horror.”
As many liberators opened up to Levinson, their recalling long suppressed memories created closure for them as well as for her. Gated Grief weaves their eyewitness accounts with Levinson’s own story to portray the trauma that has followed the veterans and shaped their children’s emotional lives. Gated Grief, which includes dozens of her father’s and other veterans’ never-before-seen photos, concludes with the author’s journeying to Nordhausen in a necessary attempt to reconcile her own life.

Title: Out of the Mist, Memories of War
Author: Mike Mullins
Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Poetry
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1462051405

Michael D. "Moon" Mullins with his usual flair has found a perfect way to bring life to the stories of America's Warriors. His lyrical way with words has opened a window into the past that is closing much too quickly. Out of the Mist, Memories of War touches the soul and brings the reader to a deep understanding of the sacrifices made by those ready to stand in the breach. - D. H. Brown, Award-winning author of Honor Defended, Board member of Military Writers Society of America, Vietnam Veteran.