Luck of the Draw
My Story of the Air War in Europe
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4.3 • 65 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“In the pursuit of authenticity, of accurate history and undeniable courage, no words matter more than, ‘I was there.’ Read Luck of the Draw and the life of Frank Murphy and ponder this: how did those boys do such things?” —Tom Hanks
The epic true story of an American hero who flew during WWII, as featured in the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV Series, Masters of the Air.
Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice.
Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp after being shot out of his B-17 Flying Fortress.
Now with a new foreword written by his granddaughter Chloe Melas, of NBC, and daughter Elizabeth Murphy.
“A gripping, inspirational account of incredible bravery, resilience, and sheer will to survive. A truly extraordinary story!” —General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Originally published in 2001, this finely wrought memoir captures the fortitude and resilience of the "greatest generation." Atlanta native Murphy, who died in 2007, volunteered for the armed forces after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As a navigator with the VIII Bomber Command, better known as the Mighty Eighth, Murphy flew daylight missions over Germany before U.S. fighter escorts could travel such distances; losses were so great that "a crew member's chance of completing his combat tour was statistically zero," Murphy writes. Murphy's own luck ran out in October 1943, when his plane was shot down near Münster. Held prisoner at Stalag Luft III in Poland, Murphy viscerally describes "the uncertainty inherent in waking up each morning, day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out, in an enemy prison camp, never knowing when it would end," and recounts the March 1944 escape of 76 airmen (later dramatized in the film The Great Escape) and its aftermath. Students of military history will appreciate Murphy's detailed accounts of the Army Air Corp's training program and a B-17 navigator's responsibilities, while more casual readers will savor Murphy's heartfelt tributes to comrades in arms. The result is a winning WWII story.
