Ever since Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 bestseller
Unbroken about Louis Zamperini’s survival story
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centered on sympathetic characters overachiev-
ing amid unimaginable wartime stresses. Adam
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Higher Call.>DEVOTION
An Epic Story of Heroism,
Friendship, and Sacrifice
by Adam Makos, Ballantine Books, 2015, $28&1VPQ[TI\M[\JWWS5ISW[
expands on the familiar
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purposely crash-landed his
F4U-4 Corsair on a moun-
taintop behind enemy lines in
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the son of a Mississippi share-
cropper and the U.S. Navy’s
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would be noteworthy under
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bridge the racial divide in
America in the early 1950s.
Hudner’s attempts to
extricate his wingman failed
because of the way the pilot’s
legs were wedged inside his
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reports of the rescue attempt
tugged at the heartstrings
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Crow past. President HarryTruman awarded Hudner
the Medal of Honor at a
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Earlier books have
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ing Alvin Townley’s 2011
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moving chapter on Hudner’s
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1998 The Flight of Jesse Leroy
Brown_PQKPKPZWVQKTM[
the trailblazing airman’s
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mission. The value of this
new book is that it builds onprior accounts by painting a
more complete picture of the
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the forgotten grunts on the
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from every angle. Extensive
interviews with the partici-
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own irreplaceable contribu-
tions to the historical record.
Makos resisted the temp-
tation to let the narrative
devolve into mawkish adora-
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never appear superhuman.
The book is a glowing evo-
cation of the resilience of
the human spirit. It took 65
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it is here it deserves to be on
the bookshelves of everyone
interested in that quality
among squadron mates
called devotion.
Philip Handleman56 AH march 2016
reviews
COMRADES IN ARMS
Ensign Jesse Brown and his
squadron mates prepare to
fly from the carrier Leyte.