Sam Hynes was a young Marine bomber pilot in World War II. He flew more than 100 missions against the Japanese. He was just 18 when he left home to learn to fly and 21 at the war's end. In this memoir, he remembers the sensations he experienced in his rites of passage from untrained cadet to war-weary aviator, from innocence to manhood. He presents portraits of his fellow aviators, of the wonder of flying and of the madness of war. Samuel Hynes is author of The Auden Generation and Edwardian Occasions and editor of the three volume Complete Poetical Works of Thomas Hardy.