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My World War Two Air Combat: Learning the Facts of Life by Trial and Error

by Joe M. Jeffers

237 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0081; ISBN 1-55395-718-0; US$19.95, C$22.94, EUR16.39, £11.47

Harsh labor and isolation in the 1920s, complexity of small town social ethics in the 1930s, surprises through H.S. and college daze with some serious treatment, military and flight training followed shortly by air combat. At age 21, his youth enabled easy endurance - including peacetime 'battles' after the war.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Stories in this book are -- VIVID, --WE MEAN -- VIVID! AS a WASP On a ROSE In the SUN FIT FOR A KING WITH A SORE TOE AND NEEDING ENTERTAINMENT

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About the Author Mr. Jeffers was born in 1920 in the Ozarks of SW Missouri and witnessed the Great Depression of the '30s. Leaving college in his fourth year, he entered military flight training in January 1941. He was an officer and military pilot for three months when the United States was bombed into World War Two at Pearl Harbor. He loved to fly. Even so, bombing the enemy was stressful duty. After the war, and a two-year break "following his nose", he rejoined the military and completed a twenty-year Air Force career. His final Air Force assignment was as a Team Chief for the Inspector General of a major command. Retiring in 1962, by 1965 he had become a civilian manager in Hawaii at the Headquarters, U.S. Army, Pacific, Logistics Division. He led Technical Assistance Team visits to allied Asian (SEATO) countries. Later he became part of joint service military contingency planning effort. Away from work, he snorkled at Hanauma Bay, skippered sail boats at Hickam Harbor, flew hang gliders at Makapuu, and played Bach, Handel, Gluck, Purcell, et al. on a two manual organ with concave radiating pedals. He retired in 1982, and kept active programming for computers, writing, and teaching. After living in Oklamhoma from 1994 to 1999, he and Mrs. Jeffers returned to Hawaii.

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Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A WORLD OF MEMORY: 1910 - 1940

1st Picture Set 1 A Quaint, Long Lost Culture
2 Cultural Change - Progress and Growth
3 Bootleg Whiskey - Man's Inhumanity
4 Poverty and Play - The Great Depression
5 A Ghost of Bad Repute Pays Our Rent
6 Academic Rub-off Between 'Sporting Events'
2nd Picture Set

THE WAR YEARS AT HOME AND ABROAD: 1939-1947

7 Flight Training - Deciding My Fate
8 Military Flight Training - Professionalism
9 Hazardous Enemy Engagement
10 Marriage and War on The Home Front
3rd Picture Set with Drawings

FRIENDLY (?!) BATTLES ENSUE: 1948-2003

11 Diaper Maintenance and Duty in France
12 Friend or Foe - A Middle Manager at Risk
13 Little Problems of a Squadron Commander
14 Working in Korea - Cultures Mix and Fix
15 Reality

THE WAY IT WAS: 1908-1919

16 In My Father's Hand

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I was assisted by the President of the United States, the Governor of Hawaii, and the Mayor of Honolulu. For the most part, these men were nimble enough to stay outa my way. Occasionally one or another do something dumb or wrong, thereby distracting me from important work. But on the whole, I am grateful for their tactful avoidance of intrusive acts. My wife Bertha assisted me most of all. She was not expacted to stay outa my way. Often I needed her in my way. There she was. Near the end of his life, my father, Marvin L. Jeffers, wrote a series of stories about his early years. They are the final chapter of this book. My grandson Gregory A. Jeffers re-drew my father's sketches. They appear at the start of Part Four. The person pictured on below deserves this special recognition for his contribution. Grandson Greg has aged since this picture was taken. Haven't we all!

FOREW0RD

Most autobiographies are written from a fully mature perspective. As years are a variable and limited resource, such endurance requires help, effort, and luck. After sixty, the limit in years gradually changes from a distant abstraction to a near-at-hand presence. Aging often is accompanied by less inclusive memory and less agile imagination. Although many things I once knew are forgotten, I remember plenty. Imagination plays no part here. The book is true from start to finish, except for a few name changes to prevent the discomfort of "thespians" and to protect anonymity of the guilty. Relevant, limit speculation is included. The stories are meant to entertain. They may inform. Generally they follow the march of time. from 1925 to 2001 - and then with my father's help, from 1898 to 1919... They scratch the surface of 102 years. In small ways these stories illuminate some of the profound changes that occurred during this sweep of years, without belaboring their historical aspect. Still they embrace an intimate iota of the recent history of certain specks of Homo sapiens playing their bit parts live in the real time theater of this orbiting planet.

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Catalogue Information

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