Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I had developed a professional relationship with Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, after the publication of my first book, Flags of Our Fathers. In early February 2001, she suggested I contact a man named Bill Doran in Iowa. He had some interesting information. #2 The transcript contained the full proceedings of a trial establishing the fates of eight American airmen who were downed in the vicinity of Iwo Jima during World War II. The airmen were charged with destroying Chichi Jima’s communications stations, and they were the first to engage in combat aviation in large numbers. #3 The American Flyboys, who fought in the Pacific in 1945, were part of an air war that dwarfed the land war below. The endgame in the northern Pacific was the incineration of Japan, and this required two layers of bombers in the sky. #4 The eight Flyboys’ brothers and sisters, girlfriends, and aviator buddies gave me photos, letters, and medals. I tracked down the families and friends of the Flyboys who could only tell me so much.
