George David Geib served as a pilot in the US Army Air Force during World War II. In his frequent letters home, he chronicled his training and travels, which included sailing across the Atlantic on the luxury-liner-turned-troop-transport, the Queen Mary.

Stationed first in England and later in France, he piloted troops, prisoners, and supplies across the European Theater of Operations. He dropped glider planes across enemy lines, and he experienced the terror of being fired upon by anti-aircraft weapons. After the war, he flew VIPs and Allied troops all across Europe, and he had the opportunity to observe the Nuremberg Trials for a day.

His mother saved his letters and presented them to him when he returned home after the war. He lugged them around with him for decades, through many moves and career changes. Finally, in 1989, he realized that this historical treasure trove would be lost forever unless he did something with it. Transcribing took him nearly four years. He carted the manuscript to his local quick print shop and ran off thirty copies to give to family and friends.

George, the young pilot, wrote with wit and youthful enthusiasm. His transcription fifty years later tempered that exuberance with clear and introspective hindsight, added in italics. From his humorous anecdote about passing the induction physical, to colorful descriptions of the bases where he was stationed, to his impressions of Europe, the people he met, and the places he visited, the letters are authentic and rich in detail.

Three decades later, his daughter rediscovered her copy, along with her late parents’ only remaining one. She realized that, once again, these stories could be lost to posterity. She honored his memory by formally publishing them in the year he would have celebrated his one-hundredth birthday.

The collection offers an inside look at military life during wartime through the eyes of a young pilot. It delves into the nitty gritty of army life, from stateside training camps to British military bases to tent cities in France. Seasoned with the musical hits and popular films of the day and contrasted against a backdrop of family back home during times of sacrifice, rationing, and worry, it will draw readers in and immerse them in history. This is a well-crafted account of, as George phrased it, “. . . the life and times of one United States Army Air Force cadet who became a pilot in the Troop Carrier Command in World War II.”

About the Authors

George David Geib, Jr. (1924-2016) was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943. After basic training at Lincoln, Nebraska, he received assignments to Springfield, Missouri, and to Santa Ana Army Air Base and Cal Aero Academy in California. He received his pilot wings in Phoenix in June 1944, and his glider pilot wings shortly thereafter. George shipped out to England on the Queen Mary, arriving in November 1944. While assigned to Troop Carrier, he learned to fly the C-47 two-engine airplane which transported paratroopers, wounded troops, and supplies all over Europe. He also flew prisoners of war, and he towed gliders. After the war, he piloted VIPs all over Europe, and he sat in for a day on the War Trials in Nuremberg, Germany. He arrived home in July 1946. After earning a degree in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, George managed a retail store in the coastal village of La Jolla, where he met his wife, Lucy. He then worked in the title insurance and financial arenas, eventually serving as area vice president of a major southern California savings and loan, where he managed ten branches. George retired in 1988, and he and Lucy moved to Prescott, Arizona, where they spent many years volunteering as museum docents and Chamber of Commerce tour guides. During that time, he wrote this book. In 2004, they moved to Nebraska to be closer to their daughter and her family.

S. G. Benson is George Geib's daughter, a forester with a solid background in journalism. Her education includes a Bachelor of Science in Forestry; postgraduate work in English, business, and journalism; and a Master's degree in Organizational Management (Natural Resources). From the mid-1970s through 2018, she worked forestry jobs in Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska while moonlighting as a reporter, editor, publisher, and freelance non-fiction writer. Numerous newspapers and magazines have published her articles, and she received several awards from the Nebraska Press Women. Sandy and her husband, Barry, relocated in 2018 to North Carolina, where she worked remotely for the Nebraska Forest Service until she retired in 2023. In 2021, she published her first book, My Mother's Keeper: One Family's Journey Through Dementia, a memoir depicting the trauma and trials her family encountered during her parents' later years. In addition to kickstarting her writing career, she tells tales at local storyteller gatherings.