Wolfgang W.E. Samuel (born February 2, 1935) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

author and a veteran of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Early years

Born in what is now Poland, ten-year-old Samuel, along with his mother and sister, ran from his home town of Sagan (now Żagań in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) in 1945 as the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

approached. As a ''Flüchtling'' (refugee), he underwent privation and re-settlement in the post-war years. His mother was raped repeatedly, and his grandfather was killed by German communists. He describes how he and his mother eventually settled near a U.S. airbase in western Germany, where his mother met and married an American serviceman.

Military career

After the family emigrated to the United States, Samuel attended the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

Business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

in 1960, and subsequently the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

. He served in the United States Air Force for 30 years, retiring with the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in 1985. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

multiple times during his years of active duty. As of 2008, he resided in

Fairfax Station Fairfax Station is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 12,030 at the 2010 census. Located in Northern Virginia, its center is located southwest of Washington, D.C. Geography Fairfax Sta ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Author

As of 2015, Samuel has published eight books. The first, ''German Boy: A Child in War'', is a memoir detailing the war years and his post-war life as a refugee, and features a foreword by historian

Stephen Ambrose Stephen Edward Ambrose (January 10, 1936 – October 13, 2002) was an American historian, most noted for his biographies of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a longtime professor of history at the University of New Or ...

. His second book, ''I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen'', is a compilation of oral histories of American aviators of the Cold War era. ''The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II'', another oral history compilation, tells of twenty-seven Germans who experienced the war as children. ''American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets'', is an account of the efforts made by the United States military to acquire German military technology. ''Glory Days: The Untold Story of the Men Who Flew the B-66 Destroyer into the Face of Fear'' recounts some of the adventures of the often unsung crews of the B-66, RB-66 and EB-66 aircraft. ''Watson's Whizzer's: Operation Lusty and the Race for Nazi Aviation Technology'' documents the United States' efforts to obtain German aeronautical breakthroughs at the end of World War II. His most recent work is ''In Defense of Freedom'' that describes the sacrifices of America's World War II Army Air Force flyers and their contributions to the Allied victory.

Works

* ''German Boy: A Refugee's Story''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2000. * ''I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001. * ''The War Of Our Childhood: Memories of World War Two''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002. * ''American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004. * ''Coming to Colorado: A Young Immigrant's Journey to Become an American Flyer''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006 * ''Glory Days: The Untold Story of the Men Who Flew the B-66 Destroyer into the Face of Fear''. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2008. , * ''Watson's Whizzer's: Operation Lusty and the Race for Nazi Aviation Technology''. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2010. , * ''In Defense of Freedom: Stories of Courage and Sacrifice of World War II Army Air Forces Flyers''. University Press of Mississippi, 2015. ,

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Wolfgang W.E. 21st-century American memoirists German emigrants to the United States Living people 1935 births Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers People from Żagań People from the Province of Silesia University of Colorado Boulder alumni National War College alumni