Samuel, Wolfgang W.E. 1935-

PERSONAL: Born 1935, in Sagan, Germany (now Zagan, Poland); immigrated to the United States in 1951. Education: Attended National War College.

ADDRESSES: Home— Fairfax Station, VA.

CAREER: Retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force; writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Three-time recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

WRITINGS

HISTORY

German Boy: A Refugee’s Story (memoir), University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2000.

I Always Wanted to Fly: America’s Cold War Airmen, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2001.

The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2002.

American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe’s Secrets, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2004.

Coming to Colorado: A Young Immigrant’s Journey to Become an American Flyer (memoir), University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Born in Sagan, Germany, in 1935, Wolfgang W.E. Samuel was forced to flee his home at the age of ten, accompanied by his mother and younger sister, when the Red Army entered the country at the end of World War II. In the years following, he and his family suffered many hardships; his mother was raped, and his grandfather was murdered by German Communists. His mother, who had divorced Samuel’s father, married an American serviceman, and in 1951 the family moved to the United States. Samuel was able to complete his education and go on to the National War College, eventually joining the U.S. Air Force. He served with the Air Force for thirty years, earned three Distinguished Flying Crosses during his tenure, and retired a colonel. In addition to his military career, Samuel devoted his time to writing, producing several volumes of history, some of which recount the story of his escape from occupied Germany and his experiences once he moved to the United States.

German Boy: A Refugee’s Story chronicles Samuel’s experiences as a child and young adult, covering not just the events that occurred, but his own emotional reactions to the traumatic events. Jay Freeman, writing for Booklist, called the book “an absorbing story of survival and redemption.” A critic for Publishers Weekly remarked of Samuel that “he has produced an engrossing and powerful narrative.” In a review for Library Journal, John E. Hodgkins dubbed the book a “deeply emotional and moving memoir.”

In I Always Wanted to Fly: America’s Cold War Airmen, Samuel gathers the stories of various airmen who inspired him to join the Air Force after he came to America, as well as those who participated in the air corps during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Many of the oral histories that Samuel collects have never been published before. Roland Green, in a review for Booklist, called the book “a valuable addition to any collection serving students of post-World War II military aviation.” In a review for Air Power History, William Nardo noted: “The text was very well written and edited, making it easy for the non-flying civilian to understand.”

The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II looks at the plight of German children during World War II through the eyes of twenty-seven survivors. These individuals were between the ages of three and twelve during the war, and share their powerful memories of their lives at that time, including the bouts of hunger, the devastating air raids, and their fear of the invading armed forces. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews found the volume to be “of modest interest to historians and readers interested in having the German view of the war.”

With American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe’s Secrets, Samuel looks at the way the United States Army Air Force determined to obtain German technology at the end of World War II. Writing in the Air & Space Power Journal, Gilles VanNederveen found the book to be “a useful contribution to airpower history.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

BOOKS

Samuel, Wolfgang W.E., German Boy: A Refugee’s Story, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2000.

Samuel, Wolfgang W.E., Coming to Colorado: A Young Immigrant’s Journey to Become an American Flyer, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Air & Space Power Journal, spring, 2006, Gilles VanNederveen, review of American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe’s Secrets, p. 113.

Air Power History, winter, 2002, William A. Nardo, review of I Always Wanted to Fly: America’s Cold War Airmen, p. 62.

Booklist, August, 2000, Jay Freeman, review of German Boy, p. 2107; August, 2001, Roland Green, review of I Always Wanted to Fly, p. 2062; September 1, 2002, George Cohen, review of The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II, p. 51.

Book World, May 30, 2004, Mark Lewis, “Air Raids” review of American Raiders, p. 3.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2002, review of The War of Our Childhood, p. 1016.

Library Journal, July, 2000, John E. Hodgkins, review of German Boy, p. 108.

Publishers Weekly, July 17, 2000, review of German Boy, p. 183.

School Library Journal, June, 2001, Cynthia J. Rieben, review of German Boy, p. 188; December, 2001, review of German Boy, p. 51.*