Three boat-building brothers from Long Island, all raised as Quakers, came of age during the Second World War.

John Seaman, the eldest, would be a conscientious objector. First assigned to building PT boats in a local shipyard, he protested the assignment. Eventually he would be transferred to making bandages and medical packs.

Fred Seaman, the middle brother, would be drafted and serve in the Army Air Corps piloting a C-47 cargo plane between China and India, over "The Hump," the treacherous Himalayas.

Bert Seaman, the youngest brother, would enlist in the Army Air Corps, learning to fly in Ocala, then serving as a pilot trainer in Georgia before opting for combat duty to expedite his term of service. He became a Captain at 22 years old, piloting a B-24 for over 20 combat missions from Italy to targets into Central Europe and southern Germany from the Fall of 1944 to the end of the war.

That youngest brother was my father. He kept a diary starting from the beginning of his combat tour as he left muggy summertime Georgia in 1944 on a B-24, flying first to Long Island, then Gander, Newfoundland, then the Azores, then Marrakech, Morocco, before arriving at their home base at the heel of Italy near Foggia.

Accounts of Dad's piloting antics are not exactly recounted in the diary. Details have been filled in by a crew member's daughter who eventually connected with my sister. Dad never talked much about the war, but this crew member - the nose gunner, I believe - loved to talk about my dad and what they did during the war. It turns out that my dad - MY dad! - was quite a hot dog pilot.

Great stories!