Don Brown (2) (1960–)

This book is my favorite style of military history--telling the story from the point of view of an individual warrior and his experience of combat.

The Last Fighter Pilot tells such a story--of Jerry Yellin, who led his squadron during the last WWII fighter mission over Japan. It is a good, short read and captures Yellin's background, experience and difficulties of the war well. The author's description of Yellin's first night on Iwo Jima was particularly good.

The book suffers from two flaws. The first is the title; a misleading message about the subject of the book. There have been thousands of fighter pilots since Yellin and many have faced combat more intense and difficult than he did. He wasn't the last fighter pilot. He was one of the flight leads on the last fighter mission of WWII.

The second is the author's, shall we say, forced, stilted and sometimes over-adoring prose. The story tells itself and an informed reader doesn't need the author's help in drawing conclusions. One example:

"Fearless in facing death was a must. Jerry, for his part, had both the talent and the motivation. He'd become a fighter pilot to kill Japanese solders, to exact vengeance on them for attacking his country and killing his countrymen, and to defend freedom. And that's exactly what he was going to do."

A story well-told doesn't need such commentary from the author. The story is the commentary.

In the end, though, it is a good, personal look at aerial combat, the triumphs and losses that every warrior experiences and worth the time if a reader can see past the faults.… (more)