Second lieutenant Dick Curtis arrived in Italy in May 1944–twenty years old and part of a shipment of P-51 Mustang fighter pilots so desperately needed that they were rushed into combat with less than thirty hours of flight time in their new high-performance aircraft. Six of the twelve pilots assigned to the 52nd Fighter Group were shot down in the first two weeks. By his ninth mission, Curtis was the only one still flying. A maverick, he barely escaped court-martial with his high-flying antics. Escorting bombers sent to pound heavily defended oil fields was risky enough, but strafing the enemy supply lines, ports, and airfields was even more dangerous. Curtis may chalk up his success to dumb luck, but these missions took exceptional skill and courage. This hair-raising account captures the air war in all its split-second terror and adrenaline-pumping action.

Of Time and Spirit is a tribute to my father, James Roswell Dorsey Sr. (1919–2000). His story is told from my perspective as a son and traces his journey to inner peace and the struggles of a father and his son to communicate. Further, it is a historical chronology compiled from my dad’s personal papers, military records, civilian personnel records, notes jotted down on scripts of paper, and the many conversations we’ve had over my lifetime. Especially those conversations we had toward the end of his life when I had become a man and could understand some of his innermost feelings, thoughts, and wisdom. This is a project he wanted to undertake prior to his death; however, age and poor health prevented his version of his life. My account of his life is a small fraction of the man he truly was, but he wanted his life recorded in history, and now it is. My father remains in this book, Of Time and Spirit.

Once upon a time, there lived in the neighborhood Marilyn, or Mick, a lovely, stunning, young, beautiful, and robust teenager. Like a blooming flower she attracted bees to her budsshe had the males ogling and droning. But alas, as this tale goes, the queen bee, Momma Emma, aware of the appetites and ambitions of the areas ripening and playful young males, had taught Marilyn to say just one two-letter word: no. Marilyn, being a bright and alert student, learned very quickly. She had no real problems saying the one word no, even to Eugene. Eugene, or Gene, is this tales impetuous nice guy who, at sixteen, began dating the blossoming Marilyn. He told her of his dreams of becoming a doctor. She told him he wasnt allowed to start his practice without a license. But as this fairytale unfolds, against all odds and in spite of all the female safeguards, Genes love eventually did find the only means to Marilyns penetralia: marriage!