The View from the Bottom Up
Growing Up Fast in World War II
by Robert Gilbert

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• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• ISBN: 9781468049879 (1468049879)
• Format: paperback, 234 pages
• Language: english
• Release date: January 4, 2012
• Author: Robert Gilbert

About The Book

Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir Series

Bob Gilbert was a ball turret gunner in a B-17 with the 533rd Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force, Ridgewell, England.

Out of the harshness of the Great Depression were produced the people who would fight World War Two in the factories and on the battlefields. Though very human in their failings, they were a generation or so of people who were not particularly self-absorbed or frivolous. As history has shown, they were able to face with fierce dedication the terrible forces of the Axis Powers and beat them. This story observes one of these young persons as he grows rapidly to adulthood, along with his peers, experiencing love, fear and having deep feelings of dedication to protect his country…and is told at times with some humor.

This memoir is the story of a young aerial machine gunner, on a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, who had to grow up fast. He participated as a teenaged enlisted man in the World War II Big League of air war…the ETO. In his turret hanging under that storied bomber, he was positioned to defend his bomber from the Luftwaffe’s deadly fighter aircraft. This compelling story presents his perspective of the committed life he and his peers brought to manned bomber warfare, which is The View From The Bottom Up… literally and figuratively.

Contents

Prologue

Author’s Notes and Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: The Boy Awakens

Chapter 2: From Long Beach to Tampa

Chapter 3: E Pluribus Unum

Chapter 4: Bon Voyage

Chapter 5: And So It Begins

Chapter 6: Return to Schweinfurt

Chapter 7: London

Chapter 8: Of Shots and Chaff

Chapter 9: The City Girl

Chapter 10: Hamburg to Buzz Bombs

Chapter 11: The Dog Fight

Chapter 12: The Battle of the Bulge

Chapter 13: At The Palace Hotel

Chapter 14: Big B and Valentine’s Day

Chapter 15: The Combat Tour Closes

Chapter 16: Goodbye

Chapter 17: VE Day in the Dark

Chapter 18: The Final Challenge

Epilogue

Afterword

Addenda 1: Combat Missions

Addenda 2: Medals Awarded to S/Sgt. Robert Gilbert

Addenda 3: Fortieth Year Reunion, Seattle

References

27 photos, illustrations and documents

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