2On the morning of May 31, 1943, less than twenty four hours after his graduation ceremony at Texas Technical College, Fiske Hanley's boarded a train and changed his life forever. The train was to take him to Florida to begin his cadet training - he had been drafted by the US army to serve in the Second World War.

This is Hanley's powerful account of his experience as a flight engineer on a B-29 bomber squad, and eventually as a POW in Japan in World War II. From his training and commissioning, to his deployment and failed mission, to his imprisonment, all the way through his rescue and recovery, Hanley bravely includes it all. With vibrancy and detailed honesty, this account amazes, humbles, and touches the reader as only stories of this level of heroism can.