Mission Over Indochine: A WWII Story of Courage, Honor and Sacrifice

By Frank Padgett and A.J. Padgett

Mission Over Indochine is the coming of age story of a young man from the Heartland who's life exemplifies the courage and humanity to which all men aspire. Through the darkest hours, pushed to the limits of endurance, his faith comforts, restoring his determination to live and make it home. A truly inspirational book for an unsettled time, when steadfast and honorable leaders seem so hard to find.The co-pilot of the plane nicknamed the "Bobcat", was Frank D. Padgett, a 21 years old from Vincennes, Indiana. Growing up during the Great Depression, he had worked hard in school and earned a scholarship to Harvard College in Massachusetts, but before finishing his second year as an undergraduate, he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army/Air Force and for the next 13 months, trained as a pilot. The mission that night, was to attack a Japanese naval convoy south of Hainan Island in the Gulf of Tonkin. Approaching the target at 600 feet altitude, it became apparent the target selected by the radar operator was not one ship, but two, a cruiser and a destroyer, side by side. The two warships, bristling with anti-aircraft guns and auto-cannons, simultaneously turned their spotlights on the Bobcat and opened fire.In the heat of battle they say what can go wrong, will go wrong. What moments before had been routine, suddenly became life or death as the fate of the crew hung in the balance, second by nerve-racking second. Thus dawned the New Year 1945, for the eleven men of the Bobcat.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1478121114
• ISBN13: 9781478121114
• Release Date: June 2012
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"