Showing results for "vincent-" in World War II

On a cold May morning in 1940, Adrian Vincent arrived in France with his battalion. His war didn’t last long. Within five days the Siege of Calais was over, and nearly all his comrades were killed, wounded or, like him, taken prisoner. After a brutal journey across the breadth of Germany, Vincent and his fellow survivors began their life in Stalag VIIIB, set to work in terrible conditions down a Polish mine. For the next five years, they waged a war not against enemy soldiers but instead versus monotony, disease, cruelty, starvation, and hopelessness.

Like many Americans, as soon as Vincent J. Riccio heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, he wanted to enlist in the military. This memoir recounts his experiences in the United States Army Air Corps as an instrument technician, aviation cadet, and flight engineer in World War II. It describes his escapades during training and deployment, the missions flown over Germany, the fateful events that led to his captivity in Stalag Luft IV, and the long road home. It reflects his impressions of military service, the people he met, and the lessons he learned along the way.