Two WWII POW Experiences Retold in New Book

Eagles’ Wings: An Uncommon Story of World War II recounts the stories of two American Prisoners of War during World War II as well as what happened to them after they returned home. The two men, Larry Jenkins and Jack Curtis, were childhood friends who grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan, but lost touch with each other after they joined the military.

Both men were trained to fly bombing missions, Jenkins became a pilot and Curtis became a navigator. Both were eventually stationed at separate locations in Italy. Ironically, they were both shot down and seriously wounded during bombing missions. They spent about a year as Prisoners of War at the hands of the Germans. When they were freed at the end of the war, they were unexpectedly reunited in a hospital in France as they waited to return to the States.

One of the places that specialized in rehabilitating wounded soldiers returning from the war was the Percy Jones General Hospital in their own home town of Battle Creek and that’s where they were sent to recover. Both men spent the next two years recovering at the hospital.

Before it became a hospital, the facility was the world famous Battle Creek Sanitarium, where Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, along with his brother, Will, developed the Corn Flakes breakfast cereal that we all know today. The San, as it was known, was not a place for the mentally insane, but was actually a kind of health spa from 1903-1942. Many famous people from all over the country came to stay at The San over the years.

The Army then purchased the building and turned it into the Percy Jones General Hospital, which was in operation from 1943-1953. The hospital had a capacity of housing 1,500 patients and treated over 78,000 soldiers during World War II and another 16,500 during the Korean War.

In 1954, the building became the national headquarters of the Federal Civil Defense Administration and it has been a government facility ever since. In 1959, it became known as the Battle Creek Federal Center.

Then in 2003, the building was renamed once again to the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center, after three former Percy Jones Hospital patients who all went on to become United States Senators, Philip Hart (D-Michigan), Bob Dole (R-Kansas) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). Jenkins and Curtis became friends with the future senators during the time when they were all patients at the hospital.

The incredible stories of Jenkins and Curtis were recorded for posterity as part of something called the Veterans History Project, a program initiated by the Library of Congress to preserve the stories of America’s aging veterans. There are thousands of veterans who have similarly fascinating stories to tell. Many of them went on to live quiet, unassuming lives with little fanfare for their military accomplishments.

The book was written by 18-year-old Andrew Layton, whose father is a Command Chief Master Sergeant in the Michigan Air National Guard. Layton was home schooled and, not surprisingly, a military history buff. In March of this year, Layton enlisted in the Michigan Air National Guard on a delayed enlistment program. He leaves for Air Force Basic Training in January 2008.

Eagle’s Wings is actually Layton’s second book. At the age of 14 he began writing his first book titled, Wolverines in the Sky: Michigan’s Fighter Aces from World War I, World War II and Korea, which tells the stories of 56 fighter aces from the state of Michigan. An ace is a military fighter pilot who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft during combat. Layton actually visited with each of the aces who were still alive at the time.

Wolverines in the Sky was written in with the assistance of the curator of Michigan’s Own Military and Space Museum in Frankenmuth, Stanley Bozich. Both books are available online through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and Buy.com. You can also find them at the Air Zoo Aviation and Space Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan and at Michigan’s Own Military and Space Museum in Frankenmuth.

Today, Larry Jenkins and Jack Curtis remain friends and still live in the Battle Creek area. Jenkins even works as a volunteer at the Air Zoo.

Links

www.amazon.com - Amazon.com online Bookstore

www.bn.com – Barnes and Noble online Bookstore

www.buy.com – Buy.com online store

Federal Center Web Site - Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in Battle Creek, MI

www.airzoo.org – Air Zoo Museum in Kalamazoo, MI

www.michigansmilitarymuseum.com - Michigan’s Own Military and Space Museum in Frankenmuth, MI

www.loc.gov/vets/vets-home.html - Library of Congress Veterans History Project