After the Liberators: A Father's Last Mission, a Son's Lifelong Journey [Paperback]

William C. McGuire II (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

Lt. Bill McGuire, a WWII B24 Liberator navigator, was killed in an air battle over Germany leaving behind an infant son. Fifty years later, that son traces witnesses to the battle in his quest to learn everything about his father's last days. He traveled extensively to pursue information, meet witnesses, and visit his father's grave in France. After the Liberators is a story of a son's unquenchable love for his father.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"(McGuire)admirably fulfills his purposes...understanding and knowledge help feed a soul wounded by war." -- Aerospace Power Jrnl., Sum. '01, Maxwell AFB, AL

"A powerful and affecting book." -- Richard F. Snow, Editor, American Heritage Magazine

"After the Liberators has a visceral punch. It's a gripping and universal drama of fathers and sons. Bill McGuire is a natural and skilled writer who combines the talents of the novelist with the tenacity of the historian. The suffering of relatives multiplies war's casualties a hundred-fold and yet it is never properly addressed by history." -- Len Deighton, novelist and historian, author of The Berlin Game, Fighter, and Bomber

"After the Liberators is a well written and extremely heartfelt piece of work." -- James Patterson, author of best-selling books, Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, and When the Wind Blows

"Embodies excellent research of a most complex subject." -- Roger A. Freeman, author and a leading Eight Air Force historian

"There really is a first-rate detective story here. I urge people to buy a copy... a wonderful book. Read it!" -- Libraries In the Limelight (CTV-Westch., NY), 5/ 6/00, Maurice J. Freedman, Dr. WLS and Pres-elect American Library Assoc.)

"This book shatters the silence that fell like a curtain upon many of us whose fathers were killed in WWII. It documents and transcends the long-term effects of war within a family. At times heart stopping, at times lyrical, it is above all a story of love and self-healing." -- Susan Johnson Hadler, co-author of Lost in Victory: Reflections of American War Orphans of WWII

"Using Army Air Force records, the personal memoirs of veterans, and his own research and interviews with survivors, Bill McGuire gives a realistic blow-by-blow account of one of the key bombing raids of WWII. More important, like the film Saving Private Ryan, his very personal story speaks to the legacy of our fighting men. A year to the day after the tragic Friedrichshafen mission, the 392nd BG pounded Berlin without the loss of a single American plane. After the Liberators mirrors this determined resolve and fighting spirit that would not be defeated, and shows that it continues into the 21st century." -- Colonel Lawrence G. Gilbert, USAF (Ret.), and former Commander, 392nd Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force

"wonderfully hopeful ...ranks with the best... highly recommended... as a "warbook" that truly transcends its genre." -- World War II Aviation Booklist, April 6, 2001

About the Author

Bill McGuire has over 30 years experience in the public relations field. He began his career at ABC, CBS, and Madison Square Garden and later became a communications officer and consultant for major financial services companies. He received a "vigorous liberal arts education" at Manhattan College where he served as Sports Information Director and a newspaper editor. He and his wife Bernadette have four grown children and four grandchildren. A native of New York City, he lives in Westchester County, New York.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Parkway Pub (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887905197
• ISBN-13: 978-1887905190
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,136,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WWII War Orphan's Lifelong Journey to "Know" his Father, March 2, 2000

By 

Pat Albani (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After the Liberators: A Father's Last Mission, a Son's Lifelong Journey (Paperback)

This book will appeal to a wide variety of readers because, although each of us has been affected differently, WWII has had an effect on every person living on our planet today. The author, who was just an infant when his father was killed in WWII, skillfully brings together the story of his life growing up without his father, and the story of his father's last mission in WWII. The book is a wonderful account of McGuire's lifelong quest to get to "know" his father. Especially amazing is the detail with which McGuire has researched a described his's father's last mission. I understand, and share, the author's deeply rooted longing to "know " his dad. I am also a WWII War Orphan. This book has helped inspire me to put to action, my own quest for knowing more about my own father, and his "last mission". I also recommend the reading of SHOBUN: A Forgotten War Crime in the Pacific by Michael Goodwin ISBN 0-8117-1518-3 It is a riveting account,written by the son of an American POW captured by the Japenese in WWII. What he discovered, is tragic and amazing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War Orphan Finds Closure, December 22, 1999

By 

Walter Paul Linne (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After the Liberators: A Father's Last Mission, a Son's Lifelong Journey (Paperback)

The book is a son's search for closure over his dad who was an aviator killed in action during World War II. The cover is very appropriate with a picture of the author's dad and author as a child...the book is well laid out with the chapters alternating between dad's story and son's search...and, the ending brings closure. The print is large for easy reading. The BEST part is the author puts into words what many war orphans have always felt, but in many cases could never articulate. A job well done!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a fatherless son who could not forget., October 11, 2001

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After the Liberators: A Father's Last Mission, a Son's Lifelong Journey (Paperback)

This is a story of one son's search for his father's memory. Of his father's last bombing mission in the Liberators that flew out of English aerodromes during WWII.

With the serendipitousness of the Cosmos in action, Bill McGuire, husband & father of a full-grown family, is given a lifelong wish to fly in a Liberator. He also wins tickets for a trip to Europe.

Unlike other war memoirs & biographies, After The Liberators is an emotion-charged recreations of his father's last days Stateside when the author was born; of his father's time in England as part of the US Army Air Force, fleshed out with descriptions by survivors of that fateful raid & of the German villagers who found his father's crashed plane & gave his father's crew a decent burial.

This is a story about war orphans & growing up after the war; about bombardiers & navigators; electrically heated flying suits & the search for documentation; about aircraft assembly plants & Zeppelin factories; about a mission doomed from the start & a sky filled with enemy aircraft.

It is also a healing memoir, rekindling a time few now remember, from a fatherless son who could not forget.

Bill McGuire offers more than a story, he includes charts & documents of the 392nd Bomb Group along with a host of family & military photographs together with a good Index & Bibliography as well as a list of Information Sources for those interested in gathering the last fragments of their relatives' memories.

An unusual addition to your war book shelf.