Four Came Home: The Gripping Story of the Survivors of Jimmy Doolittle's Two Lost Crews [Paperback]

Carroll V. Glines (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157510007X
• ISBN-13: 978-1575100074
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Retired Air Force Colonel Carroll V. Glines is the author of 36 books and more than 700 magazine articles on aviation and military subjects. Three of the books are about the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Japan and he was co-author of General Jimmy Doolittle's autobiography titled I Could Never Be So Lucky Again. He was formerly editor of Air Cargo, Air Line Pilot and Professional Pilot magazines and is now the Curator for the Doolittle Library at the University of Texas, Dallas and Historian for the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You have so much because veterans of WWII gave so much!, July 26, 2000

By 

kimiiii (HYRUM, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Came Home: The Gripping Story of the Survivors of Jimmy Doolittle's Two Lost Crews (Paperback)

I am honored to have met a major character in this incredible book, Lt. Col. Chase Jay Nielsen. He is one of the four who survived imprisonment and torture by the Japanese after successfully flying as a member of the Doolittle Raiders in April 1942. He spent 3 1/2 years of his young life under inhumane conditions, cruelty, and hopelessness which you would think would destroy a man for the rest of his life, if he were able to survive at all. Chase is an incredibly compassionate, strong, sweet man who holds no hatred for the Japanese people although he is haunted by sadness when remembering the execution of 2 of his best buddies. Carrol Glines does a phenomenal job recounting this historic mission as well as the personal stories of the Raiders who didn't come home until World War 2 was over. His description of the last hours for the 3 airmen who were executed made me cry out loud, it was so moving. We need to teach the children to be thankful for men like the Doolittle Raiders who, when spotted a day early by a Japanese boat, knew that they didn't have the fuel to land their planes safely but chose to carry out their surprise attack anyway. This is a story of true selflessness, sorrow, victory, hope, bitter pain, and faith. Thank you, Raiders, and all who fought in this war, thank you. KIM

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Patriotic Read, June 10, 2001

By 

R. Spell "raspell" (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Four Came Home: The Gripping Story of the Survivors of Jimmy Doolittle's Two Lost Crews (Paperback)

This book is only about 170 pages long so I easily finished it in one day. Wow!!! What an incredible story! I have to admit I knew little about this raid but upon seeing "Pearl Harbor" felt I needed to investigate further. This book concisely covers every facet of the mission and quickly gets into the flight.

While it states what happened to all the crews, it clearly focuses on the 8 captured crewmen and what happened to them while in captivity. I've read one other account of POWs written by John McCain and I can't help but applaud the training and quality of these men in their ability to survive. If you've ever wondered exactly what water torture is, this book will explain it to you.

The second to last chapter covers the return of the last held in captivity, George Barr. Due to extremely poor health, he had to stay behind for some time prior to traveling. What this did to him mentally will leave you in tears and I encourage you to buy this book if only for this chapter.

This is a great book of heroism and should be read by any American. I strongly recommend this book.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read, July 5, 2005

By 

R. Y. Knudsen (Tulare, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Came Home: The Gripping Story of the Survivors of Jimmy Doolittle's Two Lost Crews (Paperback)

What is the price of freedom? Learn what a few, brave, untrained Americans had to live so that the remainder of us could be free.