Not Home for Christmas: A Day in the Life of the Mighty Eighth [Paperback]

John Meurs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1934193313 | ISBN-13: 978-1934193310

When author John Meurs was a nine-year-old schoolboy living in Nazi-occupied Holland, an American B-17 bomber crashed behind his house near the village of Apeldoorn. The date was Sunday, November 26, 1944. Meurs always wanted to know more about what happened in the air on that Thanksgiving Sunday. So, more than sixty years later he started researching the B-17. He quickly found that the bomber was part of the 8th Air Force Air Combat Command. Meurs findings intrigued him and after discovering many interesting facts, Meurs focused his research on the 34 heavy bombers of the Mighty Eighth that were lost that day. He collected the personal stories of veterans who lived through it, families of veterans lost, and witnesses of the crashes. These first-hand recollections, captured in this book, provide a compelling and terrifying account of the reality of war. Thanks to the noble men of the Mighty Eighth who would not be home for Christmas in 1944 and their comrades in arms, many people the world over now live in peace and freedom.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Quail Ridge Press (May 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934193313
• ISBN-13: 978-1934193310
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,075,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Costly Day For The "Mighty Eighth", May 10, 2010

By 

Jeffrey T. Munson (Dixon, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Not Home for Christmas: A Day in the Life of the Mighty Eighth (Paperback)

Author John Meurs had the experience of seeing an American B-17 bomber crash in his yard in Holland when he was just a child. The date of the crash was Sunday, November 26, 1944. Many years later, Meurs began investigating the events of this day. He found out that well over 1,000 American planes were in the air that day, and many of them attacked the synthetic oil fields near Misburg, Germany. 34 American bombers were lost that day, and Meurs has researched each one. In "Not Home For Christmas", Meurs discusses each lost plane's roles in the mission that fateful November day.

The skies around Misburg were filled with German fighters and flak. Despite having fighter escorts, many bombers found themselves being shot from the sky. Many of the crews were killed or captured; some were murdered by furious civilians. Relying on first-person interviews from survivors as well as testimonies from relatives and other crew members, Meurs paints a picture of what it was like for the crews of the 8th Air Force on this bloody day.

I found "Not Home For Christmas" to be an informative book, but it did have some drawbacks. There are many spelling and grammatical errors throughout which makes it difficult to follow. Further, there is very little input from the author. Instead, he relies solely on the first-person accounts while adding very little of his own thoughts. On the other hand, the first-person accounts are very eye-opening, and I learned a great deal from them. For example, Americans who were captured by the German military were usually treated fairly well, unlike prisoners of the Japanese, who were constantly tortured, starved, and many times, killed. Once the American POWs neared liberation, many Germans threw down their arms and surrendered to the former POWs.

I recommend this book to readers of 8th Air Force history. The first-person recollections of survivors paint a clear picture of what it was like to be an air crew member fighting in the skies over Germany.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Home for Christmas: A Day in the Life of the Mighty Eighth, October 25, 2009

By 

D. Forshee "daughter of pilot" (Wichita, Ks) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Not Home for Christmas: A Day in the Life of the Mighty Eighth (Paperback)

There is a tremendous amount of detail about the Eighth Air Force and World Ward II in the book. Fascinating reading.