To Kingdom Come: An Epic Saga of Survival in the Air War Over Germany

Many books have been written about the 8th US Air Force ,but I found " To Kingdom Come" most unique. The book chronicles the lives of several airmen who flew bombing missions over Germany during World War II.

Many of the early bombing missions in 1942-43 sustained horrific causalities. There were some squadrons that came back with only three B-17's left out of 12. The rest were shot down by the Germans. The author Robert J. Mrazek with a flare that makes you feel that you are in a B-17 20,000 feet high and the temperature is 20 degrees below zero.

I could feel the terror of the airmen when the Germans start firing their dreaded antiaircraft 88 guns . Bombers were being blown up and there was nothing to do stop except continue on the mission.

The sickening fact is for each bomber shot down ten airman on board were lost.

Mrazek takes us along the journey of the downed air crewmen who bailed out over enemy territory. Some of the crew were captured, escaped to Switzerland, or were rescued by the French resistance. Many others were wounded. One crewman spent five months with the French Resistance . He later escaped to England with their help .. The book also tells how the French Resistance helped them during their escape. Many of the Resistance fighters were captured by the Germans imprisoned, tortured and were executed. I gained a whole new level of understanding about the French Resistance and their sacrifice for our soldiers and airmen.

One of the stories describes a bomber that was under attack by many German fighters and was going to crash. Everyone either parachuted out or was killed except one of the crewman. He took a 20mm cannon round to his head which went through his eye and took off a lot of his face. He was left aboard the aircraft still alive. The Germans found the crashed plane and took him to a hospital and operated on him. Miraculously he survived the surgery and his capture. He figures if he could survive getting a horrific wound and a crash the rest of his life was a piece of cake. The Germans and Allies would exchange soldiers and air crewmen who were seriously wounded and could no longer fight. He was allowed to go back home. His story has a happy ending with his meeting a woman, before he was sent to a hospital for facial reconstruction.

The book tells the reader about General Robert Travis. I`ve been to Travis Air Base in California and I had no idea of his World War II combat service. He would fly all the dangerous missions not the so called milk runs ( easy ones). He was awarded three silver stars for his war time service. General Travis would get into a lot of trouble for his complaining how the bombing campaign was conducted. He knew long range fighters would make the difference After reading about General Travis, it would have been a honor to have served with him.

The book epilogue tells us what happened to some of the main characters of the book. Two of the air crew are in their 90's and still going strong. All remember the impact of combat in the skies over the European Theater and know every day is a blessing.