The Heart and Soul of America

“Hoping not to be shot while helplessly dangling in his parachute, as he had seen happen to other fliers, he delayed the opening. When Fetters made the decision to open his parachute, nothing happened. His parachute . . . was frozen shut. With both hands he clawed and tore at his chute until it finally opened. Fetters’ B-26 was one of the 16, out of 36, that was shot down on the raid that day.”

Chapter 6, Wendell A. Fetters, B-26 Gunner/POW

Harold E. Davis, Shawnee Mission, Kansas has reprinted his 2005 book, The Heart and Soul of America, based on Davis’s personal interviews with WWII Navy and Army Air Force flyers from Kansas and Missouri. Many of the stories in the book include images of personal papers and photos that the flyers brought home from the war.

The 23 stories in the book include the story of John Davis (no relation to the author), a Kansas City, Kansas Sumner High School graduate. John Davis completed his aviation training at Tuskegee, Alabama under the leadership of Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. After his training, John Davis flew with the 332nd Fighter Group, the same Group that gained fame for the fact that no American bombers were shot down by enemy aircraft while under their escort.

Readers also meet Marjorie Ellfeldt Rees. Following her studies at the University of Kansas City, Rees took her $1,000 graduation gift and “put down the whole thing” to take flying lessons at the Kansas City Municipal Airport. In 1943, following completion of her own flying lessons, Rees was accepted into training of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) organization. Rees, one of 1,074 women who graduated and earned their wings, served through the war at the Douglas Army Air Force Base in Arizona. WASP duties included ferrying aircraft, flight-testing repaired aircraft and staff piloting.

The author is a veteran of the Korean War era and an active member of the Commemorative Air Force. The flyer’s stories put a human face to the 65-year-old facts from the history books. But Davis, with his personal interest in these flyers, takes the reader deeper. History buffs know that the 332nd is recognized for their heroic service, but what would be unknown except for the authors’s epilogue is that maybe this nation never got around to thanking John Davis for his service until he was 82 years old. Or, that it was 34 years after the war before President Carter recognized Rees’ and her sister pilots’ WASP services as active military duty.

Readers can learn much from these stories and the commitment the author made in collecting and retelling them. (The book is available from the author for $16.00 plus $2.22 postage. Mail requests to Harold E. Davis, 8740 W 69th St., Merriam, KS 66204. Phone, 913-432-8472.)

This is the second book written by Harold Davis. His first book, I Survived Ploesti, is out of print. Davis has just completed a third book to be published in 2009.

Review prepared by the author.