Offering an inside look at military family life spanning WWII through the Korean and Vietnam Wars, this memoir not only chronicles the heroism of those in combat, but also that of the wives and families at home as they live under the constant shadow of potential loss. Married at the age of 22 to a dashing young jet pilot, young bride Gilberta Guth embarked on what was for many years a global journey, following her husband all over the world as he pursued his career. From their honeymoon in Las Vegas to an Ichibon sayonara and a St. Gobain au revoir to his final assignment in civilian life, she stood by his side and raised their four children. In the process she learned to cope with the tragic death of young pilots and how the other wives and family members comforted the widows and helped them pack up their children and leave the familial embrace of the military. Reproductions of letters, photos, and newspaper clippings further enrich this moving account of the challenges faced by a military family in both wartime and peacetime.

Throughout the annals of time, intelligent design has had His hand in producing millions upon billions of souls. For the sake of propagating our species we have been designed in His image. Our divine Maker in all of His glory intended on giving us a fighting chance of survival. The right to exist. In this enterprise we call life, there are absolutely zero guarantees. Every now and again, He would produce a Mary Magdalene, a Joan of Arc, a mother Teresa, or Golda Meir. Aside from giving us His very own Son, every once in several millennium he would create a soul, nearly as perfect as his own. Such a soul is a reflection of His perfect love. A love with an incarnate heart which is as unconditional, undying and as selfless as our divine Maker’s. At this moment, a choir of Archangels would sing out in a glorious celestial chorus. On these rare occasions, He would have smiled with a twinkle in His eye. The creation of yet another miraculous masterpiece.

Anita Shreve's hauntingly beautiful #1 bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection about tragedy, grief, betrayal, and the 'impossibility of knowing another person.' As a pilot's wife, Kathryn has learned to expect both intense exhilaration and long periods alone, but nothing has prepared her for a late-night knock that lets her know her husband has died in a crash. Until now, Kathryn Lyons's life has been peaceful if unextraordinary: a satisfying job teaching high school in the New England mill town of her childhood; a picture-perfect home by the ocean; a precocious, independent-minded fifteen-year-old daughter; and a happy marriage whose occasional dull passages she attributes to the unavoidable deadening of time. As Kathryn struggles with her grief, she descends into a maelstrom of publicity stirred up by the modern hunger for the details of tragedy. Even before the plane is located in waters off the Irish coast, the relentless scrutiny of her husband's life begins to bring a bizarre personal mystery into focus. Could there be any truth to the increasingly disturbing rumors that he had a secret life?

Fighter Pilot is the memoir of legendary ace American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force, Robin Olds. Robin Olds was a larger-than-life hero with a towering personality. A graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army, Olds was one of the toughest college football players at the time. In WWII, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of 22—and an ace with 12 aerial victories. But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend. He arrived in 1966 to find a dejected group of pilots and motivated them by placing himself on the flight schedule under officers junior to himself, then challenging them to train him properly because he would soon be leading them. Proving he wasn't a WWII retread, he led the wing with aggressiveness, scoring another four confirmed kills, becoming a rare triple ace. Olds, who retired a brigadier general and died in 2007, was a unique individual whose personal story presents one of the most eagerly anticipated military books in recent memory. Please note: This ebook edition does not include the photo insert from the print edition.

Marcia Sargent's memoir of the first few years of her marriage to a Marine jet jockey, detailing how she navigated the unfamiliar skies of officer's wives, military expectations, and the loss of loved ones.

An Oprah's Book Club selection, this gripping and powerfully wrought novel from the bestselling author of The Weight of Water is a stunning meditation on grief, betrayal and 'the ultimate unknowability of those closest to us' (Daily Telegraph) Who can guess what a woman will do when the unthinkable becomes her reality? Being married to a pilot has taught Kathryn Lyons to be ready for emergencies, but nothing has prepared her for the late-night knock on her door and the news of her husband's fatal crash. As Kathryn struggles through her grief, she is forced to confront disturbing rumours about the man she loved and the life that she took for granted. Torn between her impulse to protect her husband's memory and her desire to know the truth, Kathryn sets off to find out if she ever really knew the man who was her husband. In her determination to test the truth of her marriage, she faces shocking revelations about the secrets a man can keep and the actions a woman is willing to take. 'Enthralling' -Anita Brookner, author of the Booker Prize-winning Hotel du Lac 'Compellingly told, brilliantly observed, lyrically written and when you get to the last page you simply want to run out and buy everything she's ever written' -Sunday Independent

In My Pilot Sarajane Giere offers a rare glimpse into the life of a military wife. She tells the story of her fighter pilot husband, Bernie, who flew 214 combat missions in Vietnam and served twenty-five years in the Air National Guard's world-class 106thRescue Wing. With explicit honesty, she recounts the terror of the Vietnam years. With searing love, she unfolds the lifelong sacrifices that affected her pilot's life and death. In the telling she honors her family, including the military community she holds dear.