The Continuing Story of Three Coins
"The All-American Crew"
A Novel of the courage and sacrifice of a WWII B-24 Liberator Crew
On January 23, 1943, a B-24 Liberator and its crew of ten men disappeared without a trace in New Guinea, leaving ten families wounded permanently and without closure. Now, after almost 80 years of silence, using long-forgotten letters and dusty photographs from another era, the lives and loves of these ten men are brought to life on the pages of "The All-American Crew."
They did not intend to be heroes and would not welcome the description. They were the sons of farmers, oil company engineers, cotton brokers, garment industry workers, and Chinese laundrymen. Many were descendants of the oldest families in America, who first set foot on the soil of Colonial Virginia in the 1600s. Others came from families that migrated to America in the 1800s from Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Austria, and China during the tremendous immigration wave that built America. In truth, this group of young men could only have been formed in America. They were the best that America had to offer. Each was willing to sacrifice everything for the country he loved, driven by a patriotic fervor that was only matched by his love of flying.
"The All-American Crew" is based upon a true story. Stanley's transformation from a Chinese American boy, not yet old enough to vote or drink beer, into a B-24 Liberator nose gunner is set against the lives of the other nine American men, who are his crew members. Along the way, Stanley experiences loneliness, racism, his first beer, first romance, and the horrors of war, themes that are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago.
New Guinea 1942-43
In the early days of the war in the Pacific, young American men formed quickly trained B-24 Liberator bomber crews that flew off dirt runways, thousands of miles from home, battling loneliness, a relentless enemy, and jungle pythons. Somehow, against the worst odds they prevailed and saved the world.
Maj Gen William S. Chen
US Army retired
So awesomely Real...from conveying family conversations and interactions to describing flying and gunnery training situations to aerial combat engagements. A book for young and old. A book for families. The incidents and stories within the book are well documented and substantiated with real postcards, letters, and photos of the time. What stands out for us today is the full blending, integration, assimilation of the crew, whether on the town, in training, or in combat –All-American Crew. And the Epilogue is heart-warming to learn about the post-war life of these All-American Heroes
Ted Gong
1882 Foundation
Russell Low's The All American Crew is remarkable from many perspectives, not the least of which is because he is a talented storyteller who has woven engaging family tales into a greater American story.The book focuses on 10 men from different lives and backgrounds who went to war and bonded into a tight crew training and flying bombing and reconnaissance missions during WWII. They had dubbed themselves the "All American Crew."And, the symbolism of an America that is uniquely able to forge strength from diversity is not lost to the author. But what adds to the remarkable story is its connection to The Three Coins.The American Crew then continues the story of arriving in America, struggling and preserving to become the generation that fights and dies for being in America and, most touching, the families and girlfriends in the final chapters still loving, surviving, and remembering
Phil Scearce - Author
Finish Forty and Home
The Untold Story of B24's in the Pacific
Russ Low’s “The All-American Crew” is an achievement in intimate storytelling. The narrative brings the reader along as a diverse group of Americans form a fighting unit. We sense the great range of emotion only conflict can evoke, from triumph to tragedy.“The All-American Crew” is deeply personal, yet as epic as its World War context. It is family history, not only of young men who fought together as a bomber crew-it is a family history of America
VIDEOS FOR "THE ALL-AMERICAN CREW
Introducing
"The All-American Crew"
Recollections of
December 7, 1941
Gunnery School
Pilot's Learn to Fly in Stearman Biplane
90th Bomb Group Mission Preparation in New Guinea
First Mission of
"The All-American Crew"
Stan aka "Baby Faced Warrior" - the Nose Gunner
Jerome the Bronx Bombardier
