The Eagles' War; The Saga of the Eagle Squadron Pilots 1940-1945

New York: Jason Aronson, 1982. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xxi, [1], 234 pages. Endpaper maps. Illustrations. Appendices. Index. Foreword by HRH Prince Philip. Preface by Senator Barry Goldwater. Vernon Arnold Haugland (May 27, 1908 - September 15, 1984) was a reporter and writer for Associated Press. As a war correspondent, he documented World War II events as they occurred. He was the first civilian to receive the Silver Star medal - awarded normally only to members of the United States Armed Forces. In 1936 he joined the Salt Lake City Bureau of Associated Press then moved to the Los Angeles Bureau two years later. When Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Haugland volunteered for overseas duty as a war correspondent. On August 7, 1942, the B-26 Marauder bomber in which he was traveling went off-course and the pilot exhausted his fuel before finding an adequate landing place. Everyone aboard had to bail out and deploy parachutes. Haugland wandered the New Guinea jungle for at least 43 days without finding civilization. He was hospitalized on 23 September in a greatly weakened state. In 1943 he wrote a book titled Letter From New Guinea about his experiences. In 1943, Haugland continued to cover the Pacific Theater of World War II and contributed articles to Time, Newsweek, The Nation and Flying magazines. Haugland became an "Air Correspondent" with Associated Press in 1945. After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was attached to a special group of AP correspondents who were the first journalists to arrive there. n this book, Vern Haugland and the pilots themselves tell the full story of the first Americans to fly against the Axis- the men of the Eagle Squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Facing enormous trials as members of the RAF and then as the core of the U. S. Eighth Air Force's 4th Fighter Group, the Eagles racked up perhaps the finest score of any group of Allied airmen in WWII.