Normandy to Nazi Surrender: Firsthand Account of a P-47 Thunderbolt Pilot

Colonel Van H. Slayden · Patrecia Slayden Hollis

dets 2023 · Tantor Media Inc · Loeb: Chris Monteiro

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The late Van Slayden trained on the PT-3 kite-like biplane in 1937, but he learned fighter pilot operations flying "by the seat of his pants," walking away from five crashes. Shortly after the invasion of Normandy, he landed on Utah Beach to help establish a US Army Air Forces' (AAF's) presence in Europe. He flew the P-47 Thunderbolt, a fighter-bomber, in combat over Northern France and commanded the 36th Fighter Group-the "Fightin' 36th-at Batogne, St. Vith, the Bridgehead at Remagen, Operations Grenade, Clarion, Varsity and other missions. His 22nd Fighter Squadron was the first in the AAF to land voluntarily on German soil. He was deep into Germany when the Nazis surrendered on May 8, 1945, which was remarkably anticlimactic. Van Slayden, a country boy from rural Tennessee, like so many of his contemporaries, stepped up to the challenge as part of the Greatest Generation.

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Colonel Phillip Van H. Slayden (1913-1996), US Air Force Retired, taught military history at West Point, served as US Chief Advisor to rehabilitate the Republic of Korea Air Force after the war, and commanded the 4504th Missile Wing at Orlando AFB, Florida, among other assignments.

Patrecia Slayden Hollis collaborated with her father on the book Normandy to Nazi Surrender. She was editor of the Army and Marine Corps journal Field Artillery for twenty years at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, interviewing eighty-plus combat veterans, including division and corps commanders returning from the Middle East.

A trained traditional and voice actor who loves to read and perform, Chris Monteiro has lent his voice to television and radio ads, animated films, video games, documentaries, and dozens of audiobooks.