WOW!: An anthology with 149 World War II stories of bombing missions, personalities, diverse life experiences. - Softcover

Ralph Welsh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 069200078X ISBN 13: 9780692000786

Publisher: Welsh Products, Inc., 2009

Synopsis

There are 65 stories written by a bomber crew member describing his most memorable combat mission. The author kept a diary, written after the return of each of his 33 missions as a pilot/airplane commander. It reveals the strains of combat conditions. A chapter is devoted to an 18 year-old infantryman's saga, from the Bulge to meeting the advancing Russians. There are stories about World War II personalities, from notables like Hap Arnold, Rommel, Glenn Miller, and Jimmy Stewart, to unsung parachute packers, control tower operators, a female flight engineer, ordnance personnel, and aerial gunners. There is a chapter entitled 'Almost Everything', which includes bits and pieces of this and that. The author briefly covers his first 24 years in Chapter III, and next 63 in final Chapter XII.

About this title

About the Author

Ralph Welsh was born January 5, 1920 in northeastern Montana, 8 miles from the Canadian border. His father was a grain elevator operator in a small town with a population of 7 his family and a couple from London who had a store/post office/gas station. He attended a one-room school for the first 6 grades, and then moved to a larger town and graduated from high school in May of 1936. Due to depression and dust storms and poor grain crops, left with his parents in their 1928 Chevrolet for greener pastures and jobs in the Pacific Northwest. Attended business school, procured a job as a secretary, served in World War II as a pilot, and attended Gonzaga and then Stanford on the GI bill. Married to Ann l956, and they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area 1957. Over the years he worked as a stockbroker, manager, and finder/intermediary on the sale of 11 companies to the likes of Labatt, Schreiber Foods, Weetabix, H. J. Heinz. Started a graphic arts supply mail order company with imports from Japan. The company steadily grew to a successful corporation. Retired at age 87, turned the company over to a son. This gave the freedom to select stories saved over several decades and to author parts of this book.

Edition details

• Publisher: Welsh Products, Inc.
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069200078X
• ISBN 13: 9780692000786
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 440