The nearly half-million American airmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories. In ‘Unsung Eagles’, award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay Stout has saved an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who–in the aggregate–actually won it. These are everyman accounts that are important but fast disappearing. Ray Crandall describes how he was nearly knocked into the Pacific by a heavy cruiser’s main battery during the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea. Jesse Barker–a displaced dive-bomber pilot–tells of dodging naval bombardments in the stinking mud of Guadalcanal. Bob Popeney relates how his friend and fellow A-20 pilot was blown out of formation by German antiaircraft fire: I could see the inside of the airplane–and I could see Nordstrom’s eyes. He looked confused…and then immediately he flipped up and went tumbling down. The combat careers of 22 different pilots from all the services are captured in this crisply written book which captivates the reader not only as an engaging oral history, but also puts personal context into the great air battles of World War II. 32 pp photos