Flyboys: A True Story of Courage
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Founder | James Bradley |
| Products | Nonfiction book |
Flyboys: A True Story of Courage is a nonfiction work published in 2003 by author James Bradley, which achieved national bestseller status in the United States. The narrative focuses on a World War II event involving the execution and subsequent cannibalism of five out of eight American POWs on the Pacific island of Chichi-jima, located within the Ogasawara Islands (also known as the Bonin Islands), an episode referred to as the Chichijima incident.
Overview
This book profiles several American aviators who conducted bombing missions over Japan during World War II, blending firsthand accounts from Japanese veterans with testimonies from the airmen’s relatives. It details an air raid on Chichi-jima where nine crew members survived their plane being downed; eight were captured, executed, and subjected to cannibalism by Japanese troops. The lone survivor, future US president Lieutenant George H. W. Bush, managed to avoid capture. The atrocities were revealed after the war, resulting in 1946 trials held on Guam, where 30 Japanese military personnel faced court-martial; four officers were convicted and subsequently executed.
Bradley further explores the development of aerial warfare throughout World War II, emphasizing the extensive destruction caused by American napalm attacks on Japanese urban centers—damage that surpassed that inflicted by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.