Don't Let the Blue Star Turn Gold: Downed Airmen in Europe in WWII - Softcover

Whiting, Jerry W

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692657495 ISBN 13: 9780692657492

Publisher: Tarnaby, 2016

Synopsis

These are true stories of airmen who didn't return from bombing missions over Europe. To those flying with them, they were simply gone. Many died in fiery crashes, while others became POWs or Evadees. A few were captured and later escaped and a small number were shot in their parachutes or killed after landing. Back at home the families waited, often not knowing if a loved one survived. The stories are about the struggle to survive, so that the blue star proudly hanging in the window at home would not be replaced by a gold one.

About this title

About the Author

Jerry Whiting was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He grew up there and moved to Pleasant Hill, California during his high school years. After high school he obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara and later obtained a Master’s degree from John F. Kennedy University. Jerry worked as a counselor before beginning a career in law enforcement in the San Francisco Bay Area. He worked in various assignments during his 25-year career and traveled to Europe to study European policing in various countries and spent time studying police techniques on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Jerry has always enjoyed history and in 1998 began working on a project with his dad that ultimately led to writing a book about his dad’s experiences as an aerial gunner in Europe in WWII. The book, I’m Off to War, Mother, But I’ll Be Back, was published six weeks before his dad’s death in 2001. Jerry took an early retirement from law enforcement to continue writing and his second book about World War II, Don’t Let the Blue Star Turn Gold, was published in 2005. He subsequently published a third book, Missions by the Numbers, a group history of a WWII bomb group. In 2010 he finished another book, Veterans in the Mist: World War II Memoirs of the Third Thursday Lunch Bunch. This is a book about WWII Vets who are part of an informal group that meets monthly for lunch. His most recent book, Of Broad Stripes and Bright Stars: Gallantry Over Bucharest, was completed in 2014. Jerry is also the Historian for the 485th Bomb Group Association. He has produced two documentaries, In the Shadow of Mt. Vulture and New Year’s at Ramitelli; A Safe Haven for Change. The story told in the Ramitelli documentary is about the unique relationship one WWII bomb group had with the Tuskegee Airmen. It received national attention and is now being recognized by some as the first integration in our Air Force. Jerry was honored to provide a training seminar at the Pentagon to assist a Dept. of Defense group (DPMO) that continues to search for American MIA’s from all wars. He continues to assist our military in locating previously unknown WWII Army Air Force crash sites in Eastern Europe. He is often called upon as a guest speaker and has spoken to groups in Germany, Poland and Italy, as well as to groups across the U.S. He and his wife, Ann, live in Walnut Creek, California with Barney, their golden retriever.

Review

You've done a fantastic job with your research. We now know what happened to most of my crew. --1st Lt. William T. Ryan

Wonderful job! You told the story just the way it happened on the Auschwitz mission... --Tech Sgt. Vernon Christensen

During the time when Ed was Missing in Action (and later a POW) all I could think of was that the whold world was crying. You've captured the feelings of those of us who were at home, waiting for answers. Thanks for telling our story. --Yolanda Lubanovich Stahl (wife of 2nd Lt. Ed Lubanovich)

Edition details

• Publisher: Tarnaby
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0692657495
• ISBN 13: 9780692657492
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256