Stephen E. Ambrose, acclaimed author of “Band of Brothers” and “Undaunted Courage”, carries us along in the crowded and dangerous B-24s as their crews fought to destroy the German war machine during World War II.
On only his second bombing run on December 15, 1944, the windshield of McGovern’s B-24 was broken by a piece of flak that might have ended his life, missing him by inches as it passed by his left shoulder, yet he continued on and completed his mission undisturbed.
As someone with a keen interest in World War II history, I approached Stephen E. Ambrose’s The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany with the same mix of anticipation and caution that I now bring to most of Ambrose’s works. He was, undoubtedly, a master storyteller, capable of weaving narratives that brought history to life for a mass audience. Yet, as is widely known, his legacy became complicated by questions surrounding his research methods and sourcing. My reading experience of The Wild Blue was very much shaped by this duality.
From the outset, I found myself drawn into the world Ambrose presents – the lives of the young men who crewed the B-24 Liberators in the brutal air campaign over Europe. Ambrose’s signature style is evident here, focusing on individual experiences, fears, and moments of heroism. He excels at portraying the sheer terror and stress of these missions, the cramped conditions inside the bombers, and the statistics of survival that were, frankly, horrifying. I felt a palpable sense of the danger these crews faced day after day, mission after mission.
One of the book’s central figures is George McGovern, who flew thirty-five missions as a B-24 pilot. Ambrose, utilizing McGovern as a key source and focal point, provides a detailed account of his experiences and those of his crew and squadron. I understand the narrative appeal of grounding a larger story in a specific individual’s journey, and McGovern’s political prominence certainly added another layer of interest for many readers at the time of publication. Through his story, I gained insights into the specific challenges of piloting a B-24 and navigating the deadly skies over enemy territory.
However, this focus on McGovern also leads to one of my primary points of critique. While McGovern’s story is compelling, the book often feels less like a comprehensive history of the B-24 crews and more like a detailed biography of one pilot’s wartime experience, albeit interwoven with others. I sometimes wished for a broader perspective, perhaps exploring the experiences of different roles within the crew or other aspects of the B-24 campaign that didn’t directly intersect with McGovern’s unit. The narrative, while vivid, felt somewhat constrained by its central subject.
But the elephant in the room when discussing Ambrose’s The Wild Blue, for me, is the lingering shadow of the controversies that emerged regarding his research and writing practices. While The Wild Blue wasn’t the most prominent example cited in these instances, it was published relatively late in his career when these issues were becoming apparent. As I read, I couldn’t shake the awareness that questions had been raised about his attribution, his use of interviews, and similarities between his writing and others’ work.
This knowledge significantly impacted my reading. I found myself reading with a more critical eye than I normally would, questioning the source of certain anecdotes or descriptive passages. While Ambrose’s narratives are undeniably engaging, the questions about their absolute accuracy and originality undermine their credibility as history. For a popular history book, this is a significant flaw. I want to trust that the stories I’m reading, while perhaps simplified for narrative flow, are firmly grounded in meticulously documented fact and original research, with proper credit given where due. Unfortunately, the controversies surrounding Ambrose make that trust difficult to maintain fully.
In conclusion, my experience with The Wild Blue was a mixed one. On one hand, I was deeply moved by the stories of courage and sacrifice of the B-24 crews – the true heroes of the book. Ambrose had a gift for conveying the human element of war and making historical events accessible and emotionally resonant. I appreciated the detail he provided regarding the missions and the daily lives of these airmen.
On the other hand, the narrative felt somewhat narrowly focused on one individual, and more significantly, the knowledge of the historical controversies surrounding Ambrose’s work cast a regrettable pall over the entire reading experience. It made me question the very foundation upon which the compelling stories were built. While I gained an emotional understanding of the B-24 experience from The Wild Blue, I finished the book feeling that I would need to consult other, perhaps less narratively thrilling but ultimately more rigorously sourced, histories to fully understand the topic with confidence in its historical accuracy.