Book Review: Lucky Hank - A World War II Air Force Navigator
Review
"Lucky Hank - A World War II Air Force Navigator" is not a long book. In fact it is only 79 pages in length yet Goldman's precise detail style covers a lot of ground. Like most memoirs, he starts with his enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Force when he was a 20-year-old Pennsylvania college student. For more than a year, he received aviation, navigation and bombardier training. Upon graduation, he pinned on two wings and the gold bars of a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant. He was then assigned as navigator of a six-man B-25 medium bomber crew. After six months of extensive training exercises on operating a B-25, the crew flew across the Pacific to Tacloban, Leyte, the Philippines where they joined the 499th Bombardment Squadron.
A few days after arriving, the crew was briefed on operations and shown a map of all the friendly bases in the area. They were also told to memorize the map as it was a court-martial offense to make a copy. Goldman spent a lot of time becoming familiar with that map knowing it was up to him to guide the aircraft and its crew to the target and back home. Turns out, his keen recollection of the map features - and his extraordinary skills as a navigator - saved the lives of the crew more than once. On their second mission, their starboard engine was hit by enemy ground fire near Bataan. Losing power and unable to return to base, Goldman, recalling the information he had memorized on the map, expertly shepherded the crippled aircraft to a friendly airstrip atop a mountain only he knew existed. The touchdown was difficult, resulting in a crash landing.
Two days later and on another mission, Goldman's aircraft again received enemy fire on their starboard engine and were forced to abandon the mission and return home. When the pilot requested to land, he was told to circle as another plane was already on approach. Certain his disabled plane could not stay in the air much longer and would crash, the concerned pilot headed for the ocean and ditched the plane. Goldman suffered a major back injury in the crash, earning a one-month convalescence leave to a rest center in Sidney, Australia.
After recovering from his back injury, Goldman returned to combat to find his pilot and best friend had been killed on a mission in his absence, one reason he calls himself "Lucky Hank."
In July 1945, Goldman's squadron, along with three others from their bomber group, was moved to Shima Island just west of Okinawa where Goldman got hepatitis. He was evacuated to the general hospital on Saipan. When he returned to his unit six weeks later, he learned the squadron lost about twenty-five percent of its combat personnel - including three aviators with whom he shared the same tent. Sadden by the devastating news, he realized once again just how lucky he really had been.
With the war over and 25 missions completed, including targets in Bataan, Formosa, Indo-China, Philippines, and Okinawa, Goldman returned home on leave. Only a week or so home, his sister introduced Goldman to Sonya "Sunny" Zabludoff. Several days later, Goldman traveled to Indiantown Gap and processed out of the Army. Ten months later Goldman and Sunny were married.
The very last line in his book, Goldman wrote, "I really feel that I have been, and still am, Lucky Hank."
The book is straight forward in its chronological storytelling of Goldman's combat and human interest experiences. Unpretentious, Goldman's modest writing style makes reading the book a pleasure and in so doing, hold the reader's attention right straight to page 79.
Spend a couple of hours reading this book and you will be glad you did.
Reader Reviews
Thank you, Hank, for telling me about ditching in the ocean and saving my father from the sinking B-25 Mitchel Plane.
~Barry
Facing enemy fire and bad weather, Goldman complete 25 missions over Japanese territory and icy oceans. Thanks to his careful record-keeping and the memories he shared, we can re-live each harrowing flight of him and his crew. A gripping read.
~Robert Deeds
About the Author
Jacob Henry (Hank) Goldman was born in Philadelphia, Penn in 1922. He flew twenty-five combat missions in World War II as an Army Air Corps Navigator in a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. Twice his aircraft was hit by enemy fire and forced down.
In 1946 he was married to Sonya "Sunny" Zabludoff and they moved to New York. He was active in the textile industry until 1985 when he and Sunny moved to Boca Raton, Fla. Together they had a son and daughter.
In 2005 he lost his beloved Sunny to an incurable brain disorder after 59 years of marriage.