Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The Berlin Airlift-June Paperback – Import, 11 January 2011

This is a story of which I had only very little knowledge, but this book brought it alive very easily and clearly. The dangers, the efforts, the human cost as well as the necessary stubbornness to deal with a very serious situation in a rather shaky and uncertain political enviroment. I can only highly recommend it to everyone who is interested in history's shady, almost forgetten points.

Absolutely, an incredible story, well written, entertaining and informative.I have now given several copies as gifts. Good read for men and Women. YOu don't even have to be 'into' war stories, this one is very,very human.

In June 1948, the Soviets cut off all highway, rail, and water approaches to the city of Berlin in an effort to force out the garrisons of France, Britain, and the United States. It was a calculated decision by Josef Stalin who gambled that the Allies would not commit to such a massive effort, could not supply a city of 2,500,000 people, and even if they did, the winter weather of Central Europe, one of the worst on the continent, would bring the effort to a crashing halt. He was right on some counts. The State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff thought we should withdraw and were leery of committing the entire Military Airlift Command to one operation. Then there was Harry Truman the president who said, "We stay in Berlin. Period." The Berlin Airlift was about to take off.The airlift described the daring young men who were roused from their civilian occupations, studies, and marriages, some in the middle of the night and told to report to points of departure for Germany once again. Only this time, the pilots, navigators, mechanics, flight engineers and air traffic controllers were there to feed it instead of destroy it.Author, Richard Reeves takes us back six decades to the first battle of the Cold War that showed what a people could do when faced with the impossible. He interviewed hundreds of personnel involved in the airlift to include the Germans who were hired to service the aircraft, or who loaded and unloaded tons of supplies sometimes at the rate of one ton a minute. I couldn't wait to turn the page, until I came to the end of it. Then, I wanted to read more. Each chapter title began with a cartoon about the airlift that showed humor borne of cynicism and hardship. It spoke of the spirit of the participants.The airlift would cost the lives of 73 airmen. It would deliver more than 2.3 million tons of food, coal, and materiel on 277,550 flights to three airports. They endured barrage balloons, search lights, fighter pilots attempting to force them down, fatigue, and muddy living quarters. Never was a people more grateful for what was being done for them than Berliners. As one Berlin mother told her daughter when she asked who the flyers were, she said, they're angels in uniform. Surely not angels, but they were definitely daring young men who did the impossible.Also Recommended:Uris, Leon, "Armageddon," Dell Publishing, 1963. This is a novel about the people of the Berlin Airlift. It is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read.Happy Birthday, James Cardinal Egolf.

A very readable account of the airlift mixing personal accounts with higher politics and even contemporary cartoons. Recommended

This book to me is one of the best I have ever read, I have learned a lot from it. I knew that the airlift happened but didn't know that it took so long to complete, and with the russians trying their best to discourage the allies and drive them out of Berlin so that they could have all of Berlin for themselves. The russians stopped them from useing the railroads and also the streets through their sector so the allies had to procede with air transport of all the goods that the west Berliners needed, weather it was food, material, coal to cook with or to heat with,equiptment to build runways or shelters for every one.In the process of the airlift the allies lost 75 airmen to crashes but that did not stop them from their mission. This is a book once you start to read it it is hard to put down and it also makes you feel that you are part of the airlift and the struggles that they had to feed, evacuate,and preserve the lives of the Germans and their families , yes the same ones that we were trying to kill us in the previous few years.Yes this is a must read and it is very informative and at times very heart felt, you begin to love the germans as if they were not you enemy previously