In this Book
- Coming to Colorado: A Young Immigrantâ??s Journey to Become an American Flyer
- Book
- 2006
- Published by: University Press of Mississippi
summary
In his acclaimed memoir German Boy: A Refugee's Story, Wolfgang W. E. Samuel relates his experiences as a child surviving war and its hellish aftermath in occupied Germany. On January 24, 1951, exactly six years after his traumatic flight from Russian tanks, Samuel finds himself standing at the railing of a ship taking him to the land of his dreams--America. Coming to Colorado is the story of a refugee from war and deprivation, who at age sixteen, not understanding a word of English and with barely an eighth-grade education, leaves behind all that is familiar. Scarred by the violence, rape, and death he has seen, Samuel must first learn to be a boy again. But every relationship he tries to build must overcome the specter of his childhood experience in World War II and the chaos that followed. Shortly after his arrival in Colorado, Samuel spends what little money he has on a pair of second lieutenant's bars that he finds in a Denver pawnshop. These bars, just like those worn by the American pilots he idolized during the Berlin Airlift, remind him of the airmen and the planes that instilled in him a dream to fly. That aspiration, however, faces long odds. Struggling to learn the English language and American customs, Samuel begins to lose faith in his abilities, suffers depression, and is haunted by both recurring nightmares of his violent past and survivor's guilt. Coming to Colorado charts the path of Samuel's eventual triumph. In 1960, his proud mother saw pinned on his shoulders the gold bars of a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. It was the end of a struggle for the German boy, who had become, as he wished, the ultimate American. Retired U.S. Air Force colonel Wolfgang W. E. Samuel is the author of German Boy: A Refugee's Story, I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen, The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II, and American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets, all published by University Press of Mississippi. He lives in Fairfax Station, Virginia.
Table of Contents
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- Illustrations
- pp. ix-xi
- CHAPTER 1. The Way Things Were
- pp. 3-22
- CHAPTER 2. A Child Once More
- pp. 23-34
- CHAPTER 3. Leaving for America
- pp. 35-49
- CHAPTER 4. USNS: George W. Goethals
- pp. 50-57
- CHAPTER 5. Coming to Colorado
- pp. 58-76
- CHAPTER 7. Hedwig Grapentin
- pp. 88-98
- CHAPTER 8. Settling In
- pp. 99-107
- CHAPTER 9. East High School
- pp. 108-118
- CHAPTER 10. A Distant Goal
- pp. 119-130
- CHAPTER 11. Ingrid’s Return
- pp. 131-139
- CHAPTER 12. High School Graduation
- pp. 140-154
- CHAPTER 13. A Taste of Failure
- pp. 155-167
- CHAPTER 14. On a Colorado Morning
- pp. 168-176
- CHAPTER 15. Lackland Air Force Base, Texas
- pp. 177-185
- CHAPTER 16. Flight 698
- pp. 186-194
- CHAPTER 17. Carswell Air Force Base, Texas
- pp. 195-205
- CHAPTER 18. A Different World
- pp. 206-221
- CHAPTER 19. Camp Kilmer, New Jersey
- pp. 222-232
- CHAPTER 20. USNS: Simon B. Buckner
- pp. 233-242
- CHAPTER 21. RAF Station Sculthorpe, England
- pp. 243-252
- CHAPTER 22. An Unlikely Wedding
- pp. 253-264
- CHAPTER 23. RMS: Queen Mary
- pp. 265-275
- CHAPTER 24. Differences and Choices
- pp. 276-284
- CHAPTER 25. A Shattered Marriage
- pp. 285-299
- CHAPTER 26. Coming Home to Colorado
- pp. 300-317
- CHAPTER 27. Harlingen Air Force Base, Texas
- pp. 318-344
- CHAPTER 28. A Dream Come True
- pp. 345-336
Additional Information
ISBN
9781604731330
Related ISBN(s)
9781578069026
MARC Record
OCLC
847134786
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No