Beyond Valor: A World War II Story of Extraordinary Heroism, Sacrificial Love, and a Race against Time

This is the amazing inspiring agony filled spiritual heart rending soul searching patriotic pride bursting war and love story of the late MEDAL-OF-HONOR recipient Staff Sergeant Henry E. Red Erwin.

This is not only one of the greatest near-perfect books Ive read in the last decade but as an **HONORABLY*DISCHARGED*VIET*NAM*ERA*VETERAN** this story makes me even prouder that I served my country. It also reinforces in me and magnifies how totally overused the term HERO is! If you want to learn the true definition of the word HERO believe me you must read this book!

The co-authors Jon Erwin and William Doyle have created as wonderful a story that can be written and documented that touches every nerve every heart string every tear activating apparatus in your mind and body without ever pulling a punch about the true realities of war. With all the horrors also must come pride and dedication AND SACRIFICE for your country for humanity and down at the very front lines of the battles in hell you must be willing to put your own life on the line for your BROTHERS-IN-ARMS! Whether youre a dove or a hawk and whether you like it or not that is the grim AND beauty of war.

It should and must be noted that one of the authors Jon Erwin is the grandson of World War II HERO and MEDAL-OF-HONOR recipient Red Erwin. And heres the first and everlasting uniqueness of this book. This is not a puff piece by a grandson blindly eulogizing his Grandfather. Jon was nineteen-years-old when his Grandfather died and at the funeral he couldnt fully comprehend why the whole town stopped in its tracks for his Grandfathers funeral. He couldnt understand the police escorts the closed off ramps the jets overhead the buglers standing without complaint in the cold rain. He knew his Grandfather won something called the MEDAL-OF-HONOR but didnt know hardly anything about it its cost its meaning. He realized there were so many questions he should have asked his disfigured burn scarred Grandfather when he had the chance. He did remember his Grandfather once leaning over to him and telling him **FREEDOM-ISNT-FREE!**

So starts an investigation that is so finely documented that the reader is blessed with unique views of World War II especially the infamous B-29 fire-bombing runs on Tokyo and Japan. The reader will feel the heat of the flames on what was most likely the largest fire storm in the history of the planet. Youll know what it was like to be in a B-29 bomber as even the seasoned pilots and Generals had no idea of the effects of height heat massive explosions uncharted jet streams youll also literally feel the heat and unrivaled destruction in human and commercial terms on the receiving end of the historic fire-bombing attacks by America.

The reader will also with (I guarantee) tears in their eyes learn why Red Erwin received the MEDAL-OF-HONOR. It is almost incomprehensible what he did in the midst of waron April 12, 1945 to not only save all the men on his B-29 but most likely the lives of many other B-29s that were following behind in formation. What Red did could not have been accomplished without his deep and lifelong belief in G-d and it is almost non-debatable that during that moment-in-time and moment-of-truth when he was literally being burnt to deathat over 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, more than six and a half times the temperature of boiling water he saidLORD, I NEED YOUR HELP NOW.

This story is not only about his above and beyond heroic act its also about the excruciating pain of making a recovery no one thought possible you will be touched in ways hard to describe as doctors used almost prehistoric treatments many of them now known to have been the wrong thing to do.

Most MEDALS-OF-HONOR approvals take years decades or longer to be approved. Reds went through the pentagon and to Harry Trumans desk and signed in six-and-a-half-hours. It is believed to be the fastest approval in modern history for the MEDAL-OF-HONOR! They wanted to get it presented to Red before he died. Against every odd in the world Reds perseverance and strong belief in G-d enabled him to live for another fifty-seven-years! All with his beloved and dedicated wife Betty by his side. Red admits there were times he wanted to die and when you read what years long excruciating unbearable pain he went through youll understand. But then he prayed to live.

During terrible times recovering when he made it back to the states he got a visit from Helen Keller who was then sixty-four. When Keller met Red at his bedside and heard his story, she was moved to tears and gave Red a memory he cherished for the rest of his life. The next day she dictated a letter to him:

You will have to read the book to see what she dictated. I challenge you to read this part of the book without tears. I had to put the book down and walk away for a while.

The authors tell you how all of Reds flight crew finished their lives and also what the famous upper echelon officers that are literally a whos who of World War II did next. They say this book is going to be made into a movie and well it should. Ive always said that no movie is as good as the book and I still believe that. I hope this movie relies on real acting and feelings and less on what is now common place CGI. This story needs to be FELT in another media in addition to the written market but its the feeling and belief and sacrifice and pain that needs to be transmitted not fluff from CGI.

I bought this book and had it sent to my nearly 95-year-old dad, Don Nass, who shared a quonset hut with Red Erwin on Guam in 1945. Both men were airmen in the 29th Bomb Group and flying in B29 superforts. Red was a radio operator and Dad was the top gunner. I had the privilege of interviewing Red for a PBS documentary in 1993 at one of Dad’s reunions. Dad LOVED the book and said it brought back so many memories of his time in the war. The photo is Dad leaning against the nose wheel of his B29 on Iwo Jima. It was one of three times they had to land on Iwo Jima for repairs. Their plane was too damaged to limp all the way back to Guam. I am glad these stories are being told.

This is a wonderful story from the first page to the last. I had trouble putting it down in order to get my work done.
What a tribute for a grandson to do for his grandfather and grandmother.
If you like to read about the hero’s of WWII then you will love this story.

naw excitement and hell. No one believes unless you were there yourself. A story well told. A really good depiction of that great generation of people who lived then and are gone now.

Incredable story of courage and human fortitude grounded in unshakable faith. Future movie material I hope.

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