An American Family in World War II

xxiii, [1], 432, [4] pages. Sticker on front cover "The story of a B-17 pilot told in family letters". Illustrations. Resources. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Inscribed on the Title Page by Sandra O'Connell (Mrs. R. Lee Minker). Inscription reads "To Dr. Arnold-Louise These letter are the living history of a B-17 pilot and the sacrifices made by his family. We must never forget the price of Freedom! " Ralph Lee Minker Jr. was 18 when he entered the U.S. Army Air Corps cadet training program in 1943, the first step in becoming a B-17 pilot with the Eighth Air Force. From flight training bases all over the country, he wrote to his parents and two sisters about flying: the Piper Cub, the Stearman, the AT-17, BT-17, and finally the B-17 known as the "Flying Fortress." His 300+ WWII letters form a complete record of growing up in those fateful years as he became one of the youngest commanders flying missions over Germany during the Battle of the Bulge. The crew completed their tour of duty with 35 missions in February 1945; Minker signed on for a second tour flying until the celebration of V-E Day. He came home in September 1945, returned to Dickinson College, graduating in 1947. Ordained a Methodist Minister in 1952, Rev. Minker served nine churches in Delaware and Maryland before retiring in 1990. In 2003 the U.S. Air Force celebrated his service as pilot of the Blue Hen Chick by naming a C-5 Galaxy Spirit of the Blue Hen. In 2005 Ralph Minker was inducted into the Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame. He was active in planning An American Family in World War II. He passed away on August 5, 2008 leaving a legacy in his WWII letters of duty, honor, and courage. Twenty-year-old pilot Ralph Lee Minker commands his B-17 flying 37 missions through bad weather, flak, and Luftwaffe fighters. At home in Wilmington, DE his parents and teenage sisters anxiously await news while coping with rationing and race riots - captured forever in the extraordinary collection of more than 800 letters. The family saved every letter their airman wrote between February 1943 and August 1945; the young pilot shipped the family letters home from each training base and then from combat with the Eighth Air Force in England. Their story is the living history of our nation at war. The letters from the family members to Lee bring a vibrant reality to the home front rationing, bond drives, and the daily tension of war through the people who lived it. Woven together with commentary by the editors, this is an intensely personal and richly detailed account of life in America during the harrowing days of WWII. Harry Butowsky, Ph.D. has had a long career researching and writing about World War II. He is a retired historian for the National Park Service History Program in Washington, D.C. The author of five National Historic Landmark Theme Studies, his work includes WWII Warships in the Pacific as well as sixty articles on military, labor, science, space, and constitutional history. Dr. Butowsky completed the primary research for two National Historic Sites: the Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site and the Opana Radar Site on Oahu, Hawaii. Dr. Butowsky teaches History of World War I and World War II at George Mason University. During the development and writing of An American Family in World War II, Harry and Ralph became cherished friends as they traced the missions and the course of the war together.