Mac: The Wind Beneath My Wings

He survived being shot down in the Pacific. Then he went back to war.

When Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into World War II, Mac was a 23-year-old pilot in the making, bright, driven, and already determined to serve. After training with the newly formed Army Air Forces, he joined the 307th Bomb Group and learned to fly the brand-new B-24 Liberator.

On his very first combat mission from Guadalcanal, Mac’s plane was shot down into the Pacific.

What followed was a harrowing fight for survival at sea, rescue against the odds, and a return to combat that would define the rest of his life. Mac went on to fly dozens of missions in the Solomon Islands, later trained on the revolutionary B-29 Superfortress, and completed thirty more missions from Guam in the final push against Japan.

But the story did not end with World War II.

From the Korean War to French Indochina, NATO, and the Vietnam era, Mac continued serving through some of the most consequential military conflicts of the twentieth century. Told with admiration, historical detail, and a daughter’s deep respect, Mac is the remarkable true story of an American airman whose courage, endurance, and lifelong service spanned an extraordinary chapter of modern history.

Perfect for readers who enjoy WWII aviation history, military biography, survival-at-sea stories, and true accounts of the Greatest Generation.

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