Best Little Stories from World War II Book

CONTENTS

Introduction xiii
Prologue xvii
War and Peace at Odds 1
Ambassador's Briefcase Purloined 2
Inches from Death 4
Underground War 7
Movie Show in Shanghai 9
Monster Created 11
Street Fights and Bombs 12
War of Nerves 14
"Inspection" Interrupted 16
Diplomacy Under Physical Stress 18
War's First Battle 19
Eagle's Brief Flight 21
Revolting Visit to Poland 25
Incredible, Ubiquitous Samaritan 26
Jockeying for Position 28
Plans Gone Astray 30
Dinner Guest 35
Bold Gamble Supported? 36
"Intend to Fire Torpedo" 38
"Never Such a Fleet" 40
Titanic Connection 43
Treasure Ships En Route 48
Landing with Piggyback Rider 51
Parachutist Draped on Wing 53
Stricken Pilot's Pivotal Decision 55
Pet Spy in England 57
Penalty Exacted for Coventry 59
Blues vs Reds 60
Patterns on a Dining Room Table 62
Generals from the Eighties 64
Memorable Utterances 67
Saga Piled upon Saga 69
Early Martyr at Auschwitz 71
Whose Planes These? 74
Warnings Repeatedly Ignored 76
War "Half as Bad as It Sounds" 78
Countdown 79
Farewell from Stalin 81
Ally in the White House 83
Fleet of Moles 86
Mount Your Tanks! 87
Faith, Hope, and Charity 90
No Action Taken 91
Tough Farewell for FDR 93

War, War, Everywhere War 99
No Place for a Visitor 100
Date to Mark 102
Footnote to Pearl 105
"Too Damned Old" 107
Bird Named Swoose 109
Chennault Strikes Back 111
Disorderly Ran the Two Ships 114
Going around FDR's Secrecy 116
Tale of a Stowaway 118
MacArthur's Extended Escape 119
Japanese-American vs Japan 124
Bombed by Oranges 126
Long Odyssey into War 127
Blind Leading the Blind 129
Hands of Steel 130
Early Tokyo Run 132
Tokyo's Psychological Shock 136
Tale of Two Ships 138
Seagoing Guards 143
He Stopped Rommel 145
Spinster Ship 147
Getting from Here to There 149
Rendezvous for Faithful Companion 151
Hunt for Tall, Limping Man 153
Escape to Berlin 155
High Drama at Sea 161
Women at War 163
No Comforts on New Guinea 167
Bully That Never Fought 169
Romance amid Society's Ruins 171
Hitler's Bathwater Purloined 173
Intelligence War 174

War Still Supreme 177
Tapping the Hot Line 178
Brave Trigger's Last Patrol 183
Conversation with the Lord 186
Non-Swimmer's Worst Nightmare 190
Constant Companion Cuthbert 193
Liaison Corps 196
Ship's Piano Purloined 199
A "Duckling" Transfixed 200
Only Harry 203
Kilroy Really Was 205
Square Balloon 207
"Mush" Morton Legend 209
Plea of the White Rose 211
Soothed into Agreement 212
Brothers to the End 213
Young Man Whittling 214
Death of Leslie Howard 215
Shipmates to the End 218
Stalingrad's "White Rose" 220

Allies on Ascendancy 223
"Hey, We're on Your Side" 224
"Smoking Too Much" 225
Close Call for FDR 227
Riding Enemy's Truck 228
"Sure Am Sorry" 231
Oops, No Parachute 232
War Story 234
Courage Extended 235
Strife at High Levels 239
Search for "Big Stoop" 241
Doubling for Monty 243
One Man Army 247
New Hope for "Kitty" 251
Only Ike Did It All 254
Two in Single-Seat Fighter 256
A General and His Dog 257
Faint Sound in the Distance 259
Hitchhiker to the Rescue 262
Marooned in America 264
Fear and Trembling 267
Destruction, Destruction Everywhere 269
Million and One Heroes 271
Marooned in Modern France 272
Resistance at Auschwitz 275
Record Set Escaping 278
Apology Between Enemies 280
Wildly Varied Lot 283
Prepare to Attack Fleet 285
Agent's Unexpected Role 287
Presidential Unit Citation 290
Escape from Auschwitz 292

Final Throes 295
Remarkable Delaying Action 296
What to Call the Battle? 297
Ripple Effect 300
"Miracles Do Happen" 301
Platoon's Heroics at the Bulge 304
Playing Possum 308
Practice Makes Perfect 311
Fateful Tea Party 313
Southpaw's Cruel Fate 314
"They're Still There" 315
Flag Raised at Iwo 317
Aboard "Apartment Ship" 320
Obituary 324
Freedom March 325
Sink Sank Ship 328
Who Are You? 330
GI's New Boots 332
Fifth Army Fortunes 335
Horror Story 337
Rescue by Drunk Driver 341
FDR's Last Visit 342
Aliases for FDR 346
Parachuting into Enemy Territory 349
Flowers on Their Graves 353
Brothers/Sisters of the Sea 356
Waiting to Be Shot 358
Farther than Any Army 360
Greatest Invasion Averted 362
"I Saw the Mushroom Cloud" 365
Momentous Word Flashed 371
Escape from New Menace 374
Humanitarian in Budapest 375
Last Missing WASP 380
End Is Seen 383
Among the Former Enemy 385
Postscript 390

Eleanor Roosevelt: Woman for the Ages by Ingrid Smyer 393
World War II: A Detailed Chronology 409
Index 415
About the Authors 428

C. Brian Kelly, a prize-winning journalist, is cofounder of Montpelier Publishing and a columnist and editor emeritus for Military History magazine. He is also a lecturer in news writing at the University of Virginia. Kelly's articles have appeared in Reader's Digest, Friends, Yankee, Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, and other magazines. He is the author of several books on American history and resides in Charlottesville, Virginia.