Unsung Eagles

by LtCol (Ret) Jay A. Stout

Reviewed by Phil Parsons

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The author,  LtCol (Ret) Jay A. Stout is a former US Marine Corps F-4S and F/A-18 fighter pilot, with Operational experience in Operation Desert Strom. Since retiring in 2001, he has written several aviation books that span from WWII to the first Gulf War.

This latest book by LtCol (Ret) Jay A. Stout certainly makes for easy, light reading. The book consists of 21 short stories about 22 aviators who today may be your elderly neighbour, Great Uncle, or Grandfather Etc, however, these men and hundreds of thousands like them all did extraordinary things during their service careers in the WWII. This book concentrates on American citizens from all the different services and covers stories from all theatres of operations.

These men are neither famous aces nor household names, with the generation of aviators from WWII diminishing every year; it is refreshing to see Authors writing books like “Unsung Eagles” that tell how an ordinary human can achieve the extraordinary.

 Chapter titles include:

• Americans Under other Flags,

• Tigers in the Fray,

• Dive Bombers at Guadalcanal,

• Army fighter over Guadalcanal,

• North Africa and the Pacific,

• The Early Fight,

• Heroes at Home,

• Civilians in Uniform,

• Americans over China,

• Crushing the Reich,

• Photo Reconnaissance,

• Attack and Medium Bombers Over Northern Europe,

• Low Level Fury,

• Second Battle of the Philippine Sea,

• Downed in Yugoslavia,

• Breakout Across Europe,

• Night Armed Reconnaissance,

• The Sharecroppers Son Bombs Hitler,

• Cold and Deadly Sea,

• Escorts Over Europe, and

• A Can of Peaches.

The chapters delve into the experiences of medium bomber aircrew over Europe as told by Harry “Bob” Popeney or of Howard Wilson, shot down over Yugoslavia, who spent time with Tito’s partisans before returning to allied forces. Ken Jernstedt relates of his experiences while serving with the American Volunteer Group in China. The stories are all fascinating with a nice selection of black and white personal images from the aircrew involved.

While Jay is an aviator himself, his writing style makes it easy for the layperson to follow, talk to any military pilot, and he will drop into a language of brevity and three letter acronyms, he may as well be speaking a foreign language.  Jay’s style avoids this pitfall and the conversational style makes this an easy and thoroughly enjoyable read.

A great read, LtCol Jay A. Stout has captured stories from everyday American military aviators who fought in the biggest aerial conflict of the 20th century. These ordinary people thrust into cataclysmic events beyond their control led extraordinary lives during WWII. As their numbers dwindle, it is important that we continue to record their stories.

My thanks to  Casemate Publishers for the review sample.

Review Copyright © 2014 by Rob Baumgartner
This Page Created on 3 April, 2014
Last updated 4 April, 2014

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