Damn Lucky: One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History
Written by Kevin Maurer
Narrated by Holter Graham and John Luckadoo
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
From Kevin Maurer—the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning coauthor of No Easy Day—comes the true story of a World War II bomber pilot who survived twenty-five missions in Damn Lucky, “an epic, thrillingly written, utterly immersive account of a very lucky, incredible survivor of the war in the skies to defeat Hitler” (New York Times bestselling author Alex Kershaw).
“We were young citizen-soldiers, terribly naive and gullible about what we would be confronted with in the air war over Europe and the profound effect it would have upon every fiber of our being for the rest of our lives. We were all afraid, but it was beyond our power to quit. We volunteered for the service and, once trained and overseas, felt we had no choice but to fulfill the mission assigned. My hope is that this book honors the men with whom I served by telling the truth about what it took to climb into the cold blue and fight for our lives over and over again.”
—John “Lucky” Luckadoo, Major, USAF (Ret.) 100th Bomb Group (H)
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine.
With a shrapnel torn Bible in his flight jacket pocket and his girlfriend’s silk stocking around his neck like a scarf as talismans, Luckadoo piloted through Luftwaffe machine-gun fire and antiaircraft flak while enduring subzero temperatures to complete twenty-five missions and his combat service. The average bomber crew rarely survived after eight to twelve missions. Knowing far too many airmen who wouldn’t be returning home, Luckadoo closed off his emotions and focused on his tasks to finish his tour of duty one moment at a time, realizing his success was more about being lucky than being skilled.
Drawn from Luckadoo’s firsthand accounts, acclaimed war correspondent Kevin Maurer shares his extraordinary tale from war to peacetime, uncovering astonishing feats of bravery during the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history, and presenting an incredible portrait of a young man’s coming-of-age during the world’s most devastating war.
This program includes a bonus conversation between John "Lucky" Luckadoo and the author.
Kevin Maurer
KEVIN MAURER is an award-winning journalist and three-time New York Times bestselling co-author of No Easy Day, No Hero and American Radical among others. For the last eleven years, Maurer has also worked as a freelance writer covering war, politics and general interest stories. His writing has been published in GQ, Men's Journal, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, and numerous other publications.
More audiobooks from Kevin Maurer
Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunting Che: How a U.S. Special Forces Team Helped Capture the World's Most Famous Revolutionary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gentlemen Bastards: On the Ground in Afghanistan with America's Elite Special Forces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Damn Lucky
Related audiobooks
Lucky 666: The Impossible Mission Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for Hell's Island: How a Small Band of Carrier Dive-Bombers Helped Save Guadalcanal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Operation Chastise: The RAF's Most Brilliant Attack of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Damned Island After Another: The Saga of the Seventh Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fighting the Flying Circus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanished Hero: The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America's WWII Strafing King Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harrier 809: The Epic Story of How a Small Band of Heroes Won Victory in the Air Against Impossible Odds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Luck of the Draw: My Story of the Air War in Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hellcats: The Epic Story of World War II's Most Daring Submarine Raid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5D-Day: June 6, 1944 : The Climactic Battle of WWII Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inferno: The True Story of a B-17 Gunner's Heroism and the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Call of Duty: My Life Before, During, and After the Band of Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Operation Pineapple Express Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wars & Military For You
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unbroken Bonds of Battle: A Modern Warriors Book of Heroism, Patriotism, and Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Damn Lucky
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book really puts you in the pilot's seat of a B 17 bomber over enemy territory. It's unbelievable what these heros went through. I'm very thankful my generation didn't have to go through this. We'd all be speaking German by now!