A Killer of Lions: A Novel Based on the Heroic Deeds of the Tuskegee Airmen

by Weisleder, Stan

• ISBN13: 9781884092183
• ISBN10: 1884092187
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-11
• Publisher: Univ Pr of New England

Summary

A Killer of Lions tells the stirring story of "Buddy" A. Bowman, Jr., who ignores racial prejudice to heed his country's call to enlist in the armed forces during World War II. Against his parents' wishes, Buddy defies the military's official policy of "Negro inferiority" and successfully bucks the system to follow his dream. Going from Harlem to the segregated South, he enters the Army, advances to flight school, and is eventually given assignments over Italy and central Europe. As part of the 332nd Fighter Group -- four squadrons of black pilots -- Buddy experiences ultimate glory over the skies of Germany fighting the Luftwaffe. On his last mission, Buddy is shot down over the Balkans and captured by the Nazis, but escapes into the Romanian countryside to join up with a band of Partisans, where he has a torrid love affair with Mariza. This compellingly authentic story of a fledgling aviator's trials of manhood filled with near death episodes is not only certain to satisfy lovers of WWII adventure stories , but is also a significant addition to the literature on African-American achievement and the heroic deeds of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Author's Note

Prologue

A Long Way from St. Louis

A Time Like No Other Time

We Don't Need Any Night Fighters

Private Bowman

The Jock Strap of the Army Air Corps

They're Going to Let Us Try and Make It

Tuskegee

Lt. Col. Davis

The Cadets

White Folks and His Niggers

For Whites Only

Tina

Captain Richardson Redux

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree

Resignation

Let My People Go

Casablanca

The Train Ride to Oued N'ja

Lt. Col. Philip Cochran

First Victory

Another Court Martial

Anzio

I Got Me a Triple

I Christen Thee Tina, The Macon Belle

A Good Ol' Boy

Born in Mud and Baptized in Blood

If You Try on That Hat, You Done Bought It

Twice as Good as the White Boys

Ploesti Briefings

The Ploesti Raid

Hauptman Steinbrenner

It's Now or Never

The Partisans

Mariza

The Neretva

The Land of the Free

Did You Ever Make a Night Drop?

Once a Jock Strap Always a Jock Strap

In the Name of the President

I Have My Dream

Epilogue

Afterword

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