Wolfgang W. E. Samuel

This is an eloquently told, often nearly heartbreaking story of what a young German boy endured as a refugee in the closing days and the years following WWII. Wolfgang Samuel tells his story with grace and heart. He dedicates the book to his mother, a major character in his story who, to keep her family alive, sacrificed nearly everything, even to the point of prostituting herself so her children could eat. As Samuel put it -

"People were hungry and would do whatever was necessary to put show more food on the table for their children ... We were the people who had nothing and lived from hand to mouth. We were the human debris of that evil war. We had no reserves of food, clothing or anything else that sustained life. We were desperate people, easy to exploit."

In a passage startlingly reminiscent of Gone with the Wind, the classic novel of the US Civil War and its aftermath, Samuel tells of how for many years immediately after the war, his mother had no new clothes. "The nicest looking dress she had owned ... she had made herself from curtains which hung in our barracks apartment ..."

And this is not just a book about being refugees and the awful conditions after the war; it's also a universal coming-of-age story, about a boy grappling with the physical changes of puberty and having no one to talk with about what's happening to him. It's about a boy left to take care of himself at the tender age of 14. It's also an homage to his grandparents, who helped sustain him through these worst of times. In other words, there's an awful lot of stuff in here that so many people will relate to, regardless of their own backgrounds.

I know I'm several years late in discovering this book, but I plan to recommend it highly to everyone, particularly history buffs and humanists interested what the human spirit can endure and still rebound. Because after his eventual emigration to the U.S. in 1950 at age 15 (where German Boy ends), Samuel went on to complete college and made a distinguished career for himself in the US Air Force for 30 years. The next book to go into my Amazon cart will be the sequel to this memoir, called Coming to Colorado. This guy can write! And I want to know the rest of his story. But start here, folks. READ THIS BOOK! - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy show less

COMING TO COLORADO is Colonel Samuel's sequel to his bestselling memoir, GERMAN BOY, which I read and thoroughly enjoyed several years ago. This one is almost as good. It's his story of how he arrived in America with his mother after she'd married a USAF sergeant in Germany. He was fifteen and had only just barely finished eighth grade, and he spoke no English. So he was starting from scratch when he settled in the Denver area, part of a new family. But his determination and grit worked in show more his favor. He learned the language and got through HS, finishing in the top half of a class of over 700. College was too hard for him initially, so at his stepfather's suggestion, he enlisted in the Air Force and became a skilled clerk-typist, and got married at just twenty to a very spoiled rich girl from Texas. Stationed in England, they had a baby and the marriage disintegrated and ended in divorce. Using the GI Bill, he successfully completed college and ROTC, and was commissioned an officer in the USAF, which had been his dream. He remarried, trained as a navigator in strategic recon aircraft, and moved up through the ranks to full Colonel.

While it sounds like a rather ordinary 'success story,' it's really not, considering all the obstacles Samuel had to overcome. Colonel Samuel is a fine writer, especially considering English is a second language (and there is no hint of a ghost writer,), and I admire all of his accomplishments. Very, very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

In-depth, readable, and enjoyable

Excellent book that covers the acquisition and operations of yet another "interim" TAC aircraft. The author does a great job of fleshing out the politics and resulting compromises that the aircrew and maintenance troops had to make work. He spares no punches in describing the impact that failed projects such as the XB-51 and XB-68 had on TAC and how the pursuit of funding led to nuclear specialized aircraft to the detriment of TAC as critical mission show more capabilities atrophied.
The coverage of the RB/WB squadrons and their personnel is excellent and was obviously well researched. The anecdotes are well written and extensive throughout the volume. They provide an excellent glimpse into squadron life and the missions both accomplished and failed.
The book itself? The discussion of mission systems, their acquisition and use by the EWO community should be required reading for today's FOGO's. (Things haven't changed at DoD.)
The appendices are excellent and the bibliography is very extensive. The appendix covering losses in particular appears to be very factual with no attempt by the author to clean up the reputation of the airplane or aircrew. Overall this was obviously a labor of love for the author who has a connection to the aircraft.
Highly recommended as an aircraft history, unit history, and history of the Vietnam war. show less

While the title is perhaps just a tad bombastic, this is a good aircraft history, as Samuel examines the changing fortunes of the B-66 (which he flew during Vietnam) in the Cold War. This gives you the arc of how a stop-gap tactical bomber became an essential component of the USAF strike operations in the air war over Vietnam in the electronic warfare mode; at least until the aging machines reached the end of their effective usefulness.

In as much as this is a memoir as much as it is an show more organizational and technical history, Samuel seems to be a good writer who has a talent for evoking the flavor of the service he was a member of. He also does a good job of integrating the stories of his colleagues in the B-66 community into this history. Finally, you can count Samuel as another U.S. veteran of the Vietnam War who will disdain the strategy of the Johnson Administration until his dying day. show less