Recommended authors-books
Suicide Jockeys: The Making of the WWII Combat Glider Pilot
On May 10, 1940, the Germans neutralized one of the most heavily fortified fortresses in Europe with a new weapon: the combat glider-an aerial vehicle capable of carrying men and equipment in close proximity to each other and crash landing behind enemy lines. The Army Air Corps soon established itsown glider pilot program, but the glider pilots were not considered power pilots nor infantry.
The end result was a group of young men looking for adventure- belonging seemingly to no command other than on paper-that through the course of the war went into combat with varying amounts of equipment, training, survival gear, or none at all. Suicide Jockeys: The Making of the WWII Combat Glider Pilot delves into the making of the glider pilot and the logistical, strategic, and tactical use of the plane they flew. In their flying coffins, these glider pilots were the independent bastards of the Army Air Corp, demonstrating sheer guts, talent, skill, and luck in their missions, and ultimately helping to turn the tide of the war.
Monique Taylor
Monique Taylor is a professional historian and genealogist. Her new book Suicide Jockeys: The Making of the WWII Combat Glider Pilot, is the only work of its kind which deeply into the WWII glider pilot program and the challenges the glider pilots faced on their one-way missions deep into enemy territory in their motorless aircraft. She is also the daughter of a World War II Combat Glider Pilot.
Monique is experienced researcher who digs deep into primary sources and first-hand interviews of other WWII gilder pilots to tell the real story of the men who sacrificed all and then were forgotten by historians. Monique has also authored articles in The National WWII Glider Pilots Association & Briefing and in the San Joaquin Agricultural Law Review. She is currently engaged in research on the glider pilots of the China Burma India Theater of WWII.
Sources:
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/annemoniquetaylor
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Suicide-Jockeys-Making-Combat-
Glider/dp/B0CJ1NK176
The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael
Men of Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 enjoying some cigarettes at the Luftwaffe barracks in Cologne- Dellbrück after the battle of Fort Eben- Emael, 12 May 1940. The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces that took place between 10 May and 11 May 1940, and was part of the Battle of Belgium and Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. An assault force of German Fallschirmjäger, was tasked with assaulting and capturing Fort Eben-Emael which was considered to be the strongest fortress in the world at the time, a Belgian fortress whose strategic position and strong artillery emplacements dominated several important bridges over the Albert Canal. These carried roads which led into the Belgian heartland and were what the German forces intended to use to advance. As some of the German airborne forces assaulted the fortress and disabled the garrison and the artillery pieces inside it, others simultaneously captured three bridges over the Canal. Having disabled the fortress, the airborne troops were then ordered to protect the bridges against Belgian counter-attacks until they linked up with ground forces from the German 18th Army. The battle was a strategic victory for the German forces, with the airborne troops landing on top of the fortress with gliders and using explosives and flamethrowers to disable the outer defences of the fortress. The Fallschirmjäger then entered the fortress, killing some defenders and containing the rest in the lower sections of the fortress. Simultaneously, the rest of the German assault force had landed near the three bridges over the Canal, destroyed several pillboxes and defensive positions and defeated the Belgian forces guarding the bridges, capturing them and bringing them under German control. The airborne troops succeeded in holding the bridges until the arrival of German ground forces, who then aided the airborne troops in assaulting the fortress a second time and forcing the surrender of the remaining members of the garrison. German forces were then able to use two bridges over the Canal to bypass Belgian defensive positions and advance into Belgium to aid in the invasion of the country.
My Father Had No Children
Walter Bert LINDBERG
Walter Bert Lindberg
(° April 26, 1914 – ✝ February 22, 1945)
Resting place: Inglewood Park Cemetery, USA
Cause of death: Died in the line of duty
Service Record
Walter Bert Lindberg was a U.S. Army Glider Pilot who bravely flew missions during:
D-Day (Normandy)
Southern France
Holland (Operation Market Garden)
Battle of the Bulge
Tragically, he lost his life in a training accident in Tours, France, on February 22, 1945, while preparing for what would have been the final glider mission—crossing the Rhine River into Germany.
Legacy
More than 6,000 young Americans volunteered to fly large, unarmed gliders into battle.
Only a few returned home.
Walter Lindberg’s sacrifice stands as a testament to their courage.
Sources
Daughter: Alana Lindberg-Jolley
(Brussels/Bastogne Battlefield Tour: June 22, 2024, guide Peter Vansteenkiste)
👉 TracesOfWar – Walter Bert LindbergGlider and Glider Power Pilots Roll of Honor
Research by the Leon B. Spencer Research Team
National WWII Glider Pilot Association
👉 Roll of Honor – Walter Bert Lindberg
94th TROOP CARRIER SQUADRON
November 3, 1943
Three new glider pilots joined the Squadron: F/O’s Boyle, Lindberg and Benefiel – these are the first to be assigned primarily as glider pilots.
TRAINING ACCIDENT
February 22, 1945
On the 22nd of the month, a sadness gripped the entire squadron as we mourned the death of two of our veteran glider pilots: Flight Officer’s Walter B. Lindberg and Elden W. Mueller.
That day, just prior to the noon meal, a message was relayed from the glider training field, A-39 B, at Tours, to Major Martendale, that they had been killed in a glider crash.
In the afternoon, the Squadron Commander flew to that station to make a thorough investigation as to how the accident occurred.
It was revealed in statements made by eye-witnesses that the glider had caught a tow rope dangling from a C-47. It sheared the tail assembly from the glider, which then was uncontrollable as it dived toward the earth. Both men were killed as the motor-less craft hit the earth, lodging its nose deep in the ground, and then turning over on its back.
Flight Officer Lindberg and Mueller were known throughout the squadron by both enlisted men and officers. They had earned recognition and awards for participation in three major airborne missions. It is unbelievable to many that these two men who had carried airborne troops to battlefields in France and Holland in the face of enemy fire, had passed from our midst while carrying out a training flight.
— Unit history, 94th TCS / 439th TCG
In a letter to Bill Horn, September 27, 1984
“…[Elden W.] Mueller was killed with Walter Lindberg in a training accident. It happened at Tours, France, we were practicing a 90-degree pattern and all of us Glider Pilots were hollering that it was too dangerous to fly. Well, Lindy was flying co-pilot and Mueller was pilot. He made the 90-degree turn and gained altitude and the tow ship behind him cut the plane in two pieces just ahead of the tail section [with the tow rope].
They came straight down with almost two tons of rock ballast behind them (they fell 800 ft.). It made me so sick I didn’t want to fly the rest of the day, but the Chaplin, Father Whalen, talked me into flying one round. But that was part of being a Glider Pilot.”
— Vern Ogden, Yakima, Washington
TANK DRIVER
Sources:
* AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Tank-Driver-J-TedHartmanaudiobook/dp/B07VFBBGNR
* Brussels/Bastogne
battlefieldtour: July 16, 2024
Peter VANSTEENKISTE.
1001 Nights in Iraq
Shant Kenderian
(Born 1963 – Baghdad, Iraq)
Background
Heritage: Armenian Christian
Immigrated: To the United States at age 15 with his mother and brother, joining relatives in Chicago
Residence: Glendale, California, USA
Education & Career
Degrees: Multiple, including a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University
Occupation: Engineer at The Aerospace Corporation (Los Angeles area)
Current Life: Lives in Pasadena with his wife and three children
Military Experience
1980: Veteran of the Iran–Iraq War
1990: Forced to fight in the Gulf War, where he became an American Prisoner of War (POW)
Unique Story: An Iraqi-born U.S. citizen held captive while fighting against the United States
Notable Work
📖 Author of “1001 Nights in Iraq”
A memoir recounting his extraordinary journey, his survival as a POW, and his reflections on identity and resilience.
Public Appearance
Brussels – Battle of the Bulge Tour
May 22, 2025, with Sir Shant Kenderian & Mrs. Kenderian
Biography
Shant Kenderian was born in Baghdad to a family of Armenian Christian heritage. As a boy, he was raised in a tight Armenian community, and attended a private Armenian school. In 1978, when he was 14, his parents divorced, and Kenderian immigrated to the United States with his mother and brother, where they joined his uncles in Chicago. In Chicago, he attended Wheeling High School.
In September 1980, just before his 17th birthday, he returned to visit his father in Baghdad. One week later, broke out. Kendarian was forced to stay after all Iraqi males of military age were prohibited from leaving the country. To put off conscription, Kendarian enrolled in the University of Technology in Baghdad, where he studied engineering. After earning a bachelor of science degree in engineering in 1985, he was conscripted into the Iraqi Navy and worked in the engineering department at naval headquarters in Basra. He was discharged from the Iraqi Navy in 1989, one year after the war’s end.
In 1990, Iraq’s borders were reopened, and he applied to reinstate his Green Card, but processing was slow, as the embassy was crowded with people seeking Green Cards. As his Green Card was being processed, the Gulf War started and the borders were again closed. He was again conscripted into the Iraqi Navy and served on a boat ferrying supplies and passengers. His boat was severely damaged by an Iraqi mine, and a rescue boat that came for them was damaged by a US airstrike. Afterwards, Kenderian and the other surviving crew members jumped overboard, and were picked up by an American frigate, becoming prisoners of war. Kenderian was treated as a prisoner of war until he could convince the Americans of his story. At first the Americans didn’t believe him and thought him a Saddamite spy. While being held in POW camp, he became romantically involved with “Monica”, one of the guards. Eventually he was allowed to return to the United States where he reunited with his mother in Glendale.
Upon his return to the United States, Kenderian passed an Engineer in Training exam, earned a Master’s degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked a series of jobs in engineering. He married his wife, Ani Manjikian, in 1997, and was naturalized as an American citizen in 2000. He received a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. He contributed to the Space Shuttle Columbia Investigation Team and received the American Society for Nondestructive Testing Research Award for Innovation in 2005. He currently works for The Aerospace Corporation where he researches nondestructive testing.
Book
After returning to the United States, Shant Kenderian wrote about his adventures in Iraq. After he did a reading of his book on the radio show This American Life, his book was picked up by a publisher
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