Customer Reviews

Boys at War, Men at Peace: Former Enemy Air Combatants Meet to Remember and Reconcile

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What makes this book outstanding amongst the many written about experiences in the air war over Germany and being shot down and taken as a prisoner of war, is the recent, first person accountings; the enemy pilot who shot him down, the ground witnesses and capturers, but also importantly, the man who was the American leader of the thousands of shot down flyers in Stalag 17 reveals his inside stories which were for so many years held secret. The POW who became a playwright after the war and responsible for the fictionalal, award winning Broadway show and movie named STALAG SEVENTEEN, adds his own story to this book. There is a smooth transition as the story moves back and forth from 1944 to 1996 where now the German and U.S. flags fly side by side, the national anthems are played and the flyers who once tried to kill each other overhead now stand holding hands while hundreds too young to remember, look on and applaud. I liked the epilogue in which the people of the village describe the affect of the war on them, and the biggest event of all; the shooting down of the Flying Fortress named "Toonerville Trolley" onto the hillside next to their farms.

My wife and I were fascinated by the author's ability to bring the stories of all the principal characters together, when they assembled for a special ceremony 52 years after the traumatic experiences they endured together. Finding the German pilot, the POW camp leader, the man shot by guards and many others took the combined efforts of German researchers and many Americans. The weaving together of their stories was masterfully done; and surprisingly has led to their reacquaintance and friendship after all these years. We recently read a Ken Follet book in which he fabricated his story and characters, not nearly as astounding and interesting as the "real thing" published in Boys at War, Men at Peace. It should be in libraries and book shops for many years, to be studied by historians of the great air war over Europe, and many previously unpublished incidents in one of the most infamous Stalag Luft camps in Germany. You can put it down, because of the way it is laid out, but you will be anxious to pick it up again to learn what happens next.

I read this book with great interest. Every time I thought I had read something incredible, there was something even more incredible in the very next chapter. The guys who were there are the only ones who know what it was like to be shot while flying a B17 bomber over Europe in WWII, then taken POW by the Germans, and endure the rigors of life as a prisoner. The events that took place are shocking to those of us who, thankfully, have never had to endure such trials. I appreciate the authors very much for giving us a glimpse into their lives, and into an important historical time period. Carol, cmaps@384thbg.iwarp.com

An account of the mission of the B-17 Toonerville Trolley, the shoot-down, memories and experiences of the crew members, the German FW 190 pilot, who made the "kill", and the German witnesses. The account of stalag life amd experiences has none of the histrionics shown in other books, and all is done in a low-key manner that I have not seen before. Later on, when someone asks what it was like, I will simply hand them this book and say, "Read this and you will know."

It is a unique piece of work, so different from what is normally found on the subject of World War II. On the one hand are the experiences of the cuel days of war, and on the other, my own recollections of our futile attempts to stop the armadas of Flying Fortresses, then finally meeting the author so many years later in an atmosphere of friendship, almost as if we had been members of the same squadron.

This is a wonderful, complete account of Stalag Seventeen. I like everything about it; research, writing, story constuction and all.