Flights of Passage

Author Sam Hynes vividly recreates the world of the 1940’s when he was an eighteen year old Midwestern boy, and the nation was at war. His memoirs focus on his time spent as a young Marine cadet learning to fly, up through the time he was 21 years old at the war’s end. He recounts the trials and errors he endured at the Great Lakes Naval Air Station as a cadet, and then goes on to tell of his hundreds of missions flown against the Japanese in the Pacific theatre as a Marine bomber pilot. He cleverly juxtaposes the thrill of flight with the ‘madness of war’, and gives detailed portraits of those he flew and fought with. Whether your interest is history, aviation, adventure, a good story, or all of the above, Sam Hynes’ Flights of Passage is sure to be enjoyed again and again.