Goodbye, Liberty Belle: A Son's Search for His Father's War

by J. I. Merritt

Overview

Merritt tells a moving and fascinating story that weaves together his father's adventures as a WWII bomber pilot and his own "unfinished business" of coming to terms with his father. He describes the last mission flown by his father during World War II as the pilot of a Liberator bomber named the Liberty Belle. Interwoven is the story of Merritt's quest to know his father.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781882090082
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	06/03/1993
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	6.24(w) x 9.24(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

J.I. Merritt is the author of Baronets and Buffalo and has authored more than a hundred articles for such magazines as Field and Stream, People, Modern Maturity, and Americana.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xi
	Preface to the New Edition	xv
	Introduction	1
1	The Mission	7
2	The Quest	41
3	On the Road	77
4	The Return	115
5	Duprava to Miklous	143
6	Garesnica to Glina	171
7	Goodbye, Liberty Belle	197
	Notes	207
	Bibliography	213
	Index	217

Editorial Reviews

Jim Merritt's clean prose and a flashbook style keeps his narrative flowing and the interest high.

N.J. TIMES

...it's a good war story...done in sharp detail...history of a valuable, human kind.

Samuel Hynes

...a spellbinding story....a fascinating combination of wartime adventure and modern male sensibilities. It is wonderful reading for anyone interested in World War II, aviation history and the way past and present intersect in the minds of men.

Landon Jones

It's both a riveting suspense story and a moving account...

Ann Waldron

Jim Merritt's clean prose and a flashbook style keeps his narrative flowing and the interest high.

From the Publisher

Jim Merritt's clean prose and a flashbook style keeps his narrative flowing and the interest high.

N.J. TIMES Trenton

Goodbye, Liberty Belle draws moving portraits of young men on both sides of the battlefield caught up in the tragedy of World War II. At the same time, it admirably recounts the political and military divisions in Yugoslavia, divisions that still haunt us today.
— Ann Waldron

People

This grandly complex tale is handled expertly by Merritt. Goodbye Liberty Belle is a war story, sort of. But it has enough facets to gleam brightly whichever way you look at it.
— Ann Waldron

Smithsonian

Jim Merritt's clean prose and a flashbook style keeps his narrative flowing and the interest high.

Trenton

Merritt recounts his journey to Yugoslavia in 1986--before the current upheaval--a visit made with his father to piece together the events of the senior Merritt's last combat flight during World War II when his plane was shot down and Yugoslav partisans rescued the crew. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A moving account of the human side of World War II and a welcome reminder of heroes and the many forms of heroism.

George Schultz