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Last updated on Tuesday, December 20, 2011
(BEDFORD) - James Lee “Hutch” Hutchinson has published his third book and it’s now available locally.
The book relates to the Hutch's experiences as a member of the 490th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, when he served as a radio operator/gunner on 20 combat missions in a B-17 Flying Fortress.
The newest book, "The Boys in the B-17," contains 90 stories about the missions from 1942 to 1945, the survivors, prisoners of war and those who lost their lives -- "who were too young to vote, but old enough to fight."
The first book, "Through These Eyes," was based on T/Sgt. Hutchinson's diary of the bombing missions, providing a personal record of the dangers airmen faced from fighters, flak and accidents on the missions over enemy territory.
The second book, "Bombs Away," included interviews of veterans as well as eye-witness accounts of bombing missions, in addition to stories of the author's boyhood during the Great Depression before World War II.
Hutchinson wrote the books to honor the men of the Eighth Air Force; those who died in the deadly skies and those who survived. His stories tell what the men did and why it had to be done.
The author and his wife, June, still live in Bedford. He is retired after 37 years as an elementary teacher, principal and assistant superintendent in the North Lawrence schools.
Copies of the 244-page book, "The Boys in the B-17," as well as the first two books, are available locally at the Lawrence County Museum of History, the Indiana University Health Bedford Hospital gift shop, Hudson's Photography, Lighthouse Christian Book Store and Bloomfield Bank in Mitchell.
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