Merriam Press Aviation History 4. First Edition (2014).

Inducted in 1942, Johnson went through pilot training, followed by airborne operations flight training with the 27th Troop Carrier Squadron, 10th Troop Carrier Group. Assignment to the 49th Troop Carrier Squadron, 313th Troop Carrier Wing, for training in Sicily in late 1943 came next.

Assigned to the 36th Troop Carrier Squadron, 316th Troop Carrier Group, in November 1943, for training for the Normandy D-Day invasion, followed by support for the invasion and Allied advance across Europe during the summer of 1944.

Also during this period, he trained for Operation Market Garden, as part of the armada that dropped the 82nd Airborne Division. His C-47 was shot down during this mission and he became a POW. In addition to detailing his life as a POW, from capture and interrogation to life in Stalag Luft 1A, through liberation, Johnson includes details of what it was like back home for his family, particularly after he was listed as Missing in Action after being shot down, including his parents' efforts at trying to get more details from politicians, the Army and members of his unit in England.

A detailed personal account by a C-47 pilot who flew Un-Armed, Un-Armored and Un-Escorted over the skies of Europe, delivering men and materiel where it was needed to defeat the enemy.

35 photos and documents

Contents

Introduction

Prelude: 18 September 1944

Chapter 1: The Beginning: It All Started Here

Chapter 2: Induction: U.S. Army, Fort Thomas, Kentucky

Chapter 3: Loneliness and Mournful Sounds

Chapter 4: Casey Jones School of Aeronautics

Chapter 5: A Prophecy Unfolds

Chapter 6: Aviation Cadet Days: Part 1, Classification/Pre-Flight/Primary

Chapter 7: Aviation Cadet Days: Part 2, Basic -Advanced

Chapter 8: Prepare for Combat: Bergstrom Field, Austin, Texas, June-July 1943

Chapter 9: Dunnellon, Florida

Chapter 10: This One is for the Birds: Dunnellon, Florida, September 1943

Chapter 11: Off to War

Chapter 12: Rain Clock: A Jungle Jaunt, 11 October 1943

Chapter 13: Sicily: Trapani/Milo and Castelvetrano, October 12, 1943-February 15, 1944

Chapter 14: Emerald Isle Interlude

Chapter 15: Settling In: Preparing for D-Day

Chapter 16: First with the Best: Operation OVERLORD: Airborne Mission, NEPTUNE: Boston-Freeport, June 5-6, 1944

Chapter 17: Between Major Combat Missions

Chapter 18: Operation MARKET GARDEN

Chapter 19: From Hot Pilot to POW

Chapter 20: Interrogation: A Psychological Experience175

Chapter 21: Dulag Luft Transit Camp, October 1944

Chapter 22: Stalag Luft 1A, Part 1

Chapter 23: Meanwhile Back Home, Part 1

Chapter 24: Stalag Luft 1A, Part 2

Chapter 25: At Last, Homeward Bound

Chapter 26: Meanwhile Back Home, Part 2

The Author