Green Light!: Men of the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron Tell Their Story

By Martin Wolfe

Book Overview

In Green Light Martin Wolfe gives us the big picture of World War II airborne warfare in Europe through the lens of one unit, a squadron typical of some sixty others. Troop carrier squadrons delivered paratroopers behind enemy lines, tugged gliders into battle zones, and, between combat operations, freighted up to the front everything from food to artillery shells and carried back wounded infantrymen and newly freed slave laborers. Wolfe's firsthand account is an engaging and informative narrative that goes beyond the facts to investigate the feelings of the tightly knit unit. He also describes the management and training techniques that prepared the squadron for its role in four of the five main invasions of Nazi Europe.

In all the literature about World War II, this is the first account to show how all levels of a squadron functioned-clerks as well as pilots, maintenance mechanics as well as flying crew chiefs, the mess hall as well as headquarters. In addition, Wolfe's is the first book to show the interplay between unit experience and high command theory--what units like the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron could actually accomplish and how concepts of airborne warfare changed at Supreme Headquarters. He explains why and how it was not until the last airborne invasion, in March 1945, that the full potential of the troop carrier was reached.

Wolfe melds the recollections of ninety veterans of this squadron with a general history of Allied airborne forces in World War II. Through their words, Green Light paints vivid portraits of the real men of the war, not the Rambos or Sad Sacks of popular culture. And through the retelling of their experiences, the book shows that the truism "war is hell" does not hold for all soldiers all the time.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812281438
• ISBN13: 9780812281439
• Release Date: March 1989
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Anniversary
• Length: 516 Pages
• Weight: 2.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Reality Check Clears the Bank

This book is real! Liberally sprinkled with first hand accounts of the men who were there it brings history to life. This book was given to me shortly after my father passed away by someone who knew he'd flown these missions in WWII. As I read, stories minimized by my father came to me in clearer, more heroic detail. (Not a member in the squadron whose story is told here, he was in a squadron in the same group.) A fun read that puts you there with the day to day doldrums and the excitement of missions as they were flown.

A book for the avid and serious Non-Fiction WWII reader

A highly detailed account of the little reported contribution of the men and airplanes which dropped or flew men into battle in WWII --Sometimes using nothing more than disposable wooden gliders -- a little reported feat of courage and daring -- sprinkled with doses of personal accounts of the real men and their real stories - It makes for a very good read.