Indestructible: One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII

by John R. Bruning

Overview

In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times bestselling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family -- imprisoned by the Japanese--and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way.

From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur whose homespun engineering brilliance helped launch one of the first airlines in Asia.

Pappy was drafted into MacArthur's air force when war came to the Philippines; and while he carried out a top-secret mission to Australia, the Japanese seized his family. Separated from his beloved wife, Polly, and their four children, Pappy reverted to his lawless ways. He carried out rescue missions with an almost suicidal desperation. Even after he was shot down twice and forced to withdraw to Australia, he waged a one-man war against his many enemies -- including the American high command and the Japanese--and fought to return to the Philippines to find his family.

Without adequate planes, supplies, or tactics, the U.S. Army Air Force suffered crushing defeats by the Japanese in the Pacific. Over the course of his three-year quest to find his family, Pappy became the renegade who changed all that. With a brace of pistols and small band of loyal fol,lowers, he robbed supply dumps, stole aircraft, invented new weapons, and modified bombers to hit harder, fly farther, and deliver more destruction than anything yet seen in the air. When Pappy's modified planes were finally unleashed during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the United States scored one of the most decisive victories of World War II.

Taking readers from the blistering skies of the Pacific to the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines to one of the the war's most notorious prison camps, Indestructible traces one man's bare-knuckle journey to free the people he loved and the aerial revolution he sparked that continues to resonate across America's modern battlefields.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316339391
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	10/11/2016
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	137,628
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John R. Bruning is the author or collaborating writer of the national bestseller, Indestructible, as well as Outlaw Platoon written with Sean Parnell, Shadow of the Sword with Jeremiah Workman, How to Break a Terrorist with Matthew Alexander, House to House with David Bellavia, The Devil's Sandbox, and Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent with Fred Burton.

Bruning is well traveled as an embedded combat correspondent. For his reporting in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense presented him with the Thomas Jefferson Award in 2010. For his work with the Oregon National Guard, he was inducted into the 162nd Infantry Regiment in September 2011 as an honorary member. John lives in Independence, Oregon, and has two children.

Table of Contents

Maps xii-xv

Preface xvii

Part 1 Philippine Odyssey 1

1 The Last Normal Day 3

2 The Mysterious Traveler 12

3 Into the Storm 25

4 The Voice of Manila 39

5 The Day of Fiestas 46

6 Terror in the Night 58

7 Silver Screen Scenes 65

8 Running Toward Trouble 73

9 The Noose 81

10 The Middle-Aged Recruit 93

11 Outlaw Son of a Lawman 104

12 The Noose 119

13 American Red Baron 128

14 Refugee Allies 135

15 Routine in Chaos 145

16 Christmas Eve 154

17 The Last Broadcast 164

Part 2 The Legend of Pappy Gunn 173

18 Early Legends 175

19 The Perilous Consequence of Not in Stock 179

20 Daniel Boone of the Dutch East Indies 195

21 Eighth Avenue Rules 212

22 Pappy and Miss EMF 221

23 Voiding the Warranty 226

24 Where the Weak Are Prey 237

25 Wainwright to Mac Arthur: Where Is Captain Gunn? 252

26 The Indomitable Luck of Pappy Gunn 263

27 The Canberra Commandos and the Numerous Troubles That Ensued 273

28 Killing von Gronau 284

29 Secrets, Spies, and Mystery Holes 299

30 Survival Versus Sin 312

31 The Death-Dealing Sweetheart with the Jack Dempsey Crouch 323

32 "The Gun-Craziest Man I Ever Met" 339

33 Bust 'Em George, the Undocumented Renegade General 351

34 Clara Crosby Comes of Age 362

35 Margaret, Pappy's Radical, Scrappy, Lethal Engine of Death 371

36 The War on Hope 383

37 Blood and Fire 390

38 Reconnections and Revolutions 401

Part 3 Homeward Bound 409

39 Later Legends 411

40 Gunship Summer 413

41 Miss Priss Strikes Back 426

42 The Pinky and the Lungs 438

43 On the Tail of Custer's Ghost 446

44 The Vow of Last Resort 460

45 Pappy's Final Battle 469

46 The Sweet Georgia Peach 475

47 War Made Animals of Men 483

48 Ward Six 489

Afterword 499

Acknowledgments 503

Notes 509

Bibliography 515

Index 529

Editorial Reviews

"This is a beautifully told story of a family separated by war, and of an extraordinary father, driven to avenge his family, who by sheer force of character changed the nature of warfare. A superbly told tale of love, honor, courage and devotion."
—Alex Kershaw, author of Avenue of Spies

"This thriller-like narrative not only reveals the disturbing plight of courageous American families held in Japanese internment camps, but also delivers a gripping portrait of a uniquely American hero, Pappy Gunn, who fought two wars—one for his country and one to rescue his wife and children."
—James Bradley, bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers, Flyboys, The Imperial Cruise, and The China Mirage

"Paul Irvin Gunn's time in World War II is the stuff of legends - and its fast-paced, page-turning telling in Bruning's book does the man's Herculean feats justice.... The book reads more like an overly-detailed movie script than a work of historical non-fiction, complete with a heart-wrenching love story and heroic conclusion....Indestructible offers a glimpse of the Pacific theater like you've never before seen."
—Men's Journal

"Here is a true story with something for everyone. Love, war, treachery, adventure, and above all an intimate portrait of the made-for-Hollywood life of a man who broke all the rules and remade them to his liking. Finally, we have a book that does justice to the legend of Colonel Paul 'Pappy' Gunn, a giant among heroes of World War II. John Bruning shows us a big-hearted man determined to save his family—and a brilliant scientist-pilot who was determined to win the war along the way."
—Adam Makos, author of A Higher Call and Devotion

"From the opening pages, Bruning grabs you by the collar and pulls you into the story, not letting go as he masterfully guides you through a part of World War II that is largely unknown. This is the work of a skilled wordsmith who knows how to tell a story."
—Gregory A. Freeman, author of The Forgotten 500

"Set against the sprawling and violent Pacific War, Indestructible is the incredible story of one man's courage, tenacity and dogged fight to rescue his family caught behind enemy lines. The book left me with chills."
—James M. Scott, author of Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid that Avenged Pearl Harbor

"Bruning's gripping account of 'Pappy' Gunn's mission to save his family might seem to some like over-the-top fiction, but Gunn's rage really did drive changes to tactics and modifications to aircraft that changed the course of the Pacific War... every lover of bigger-than-life-but-still-true tales of wartime heroism will want to read this vividly written history."
—Booklist, starred review

"This is a compelling story with strong characters and a wealth of fascinating incidents, set against some of the fiercest action of the war."
—Kirkus Reviews

"[A] story of honor, faith, endurance and love. Indestructible is a worthwhile read for anyone interested not only in the history of the war in the Pacific but also of determination in the face of daunting odds."—Yakima Herald

"Fast-paced, sweeping, and often haunting."—The Oregonian

"It's a massive understatement to say that Pappy Gunn was an American original. In this new book, journalist Bruning looks at the improbable life of the one-of-a-kind Arkansas daredevil pilot who took matters into his own hands when his wife and children were captured by the Japanese in the Philippines."
—Men's Journal, Best Books of 2016

"In INDESTRUCTIBLE, Bruning does a fine job of recounting two parallel storylines, alternating between Gunn's unconventional brilliance in cobbling together aircraft for the defense of Australia and the campaign in New Guinea, and his family's battle against starvation, the Japanese, and-not least-their fellow internees in the notorious Santo Tomas camp."
—WWII Magazine

From the Publisher

2016-09-01
The story of how one man’s struggle to free his family after the fall of the Philippines in World War II inspired him to create new weapons systems that hastened the Allied victory.Military historian Bruning (Battle for the North Atlantic: The Strategic Naval Campaign that Won World War II in Europe, 2013, etc.) tells the story of Paul Irvin “Pappy” Gunn (1899-1957), a former Navy man who rose through the ranks to become one of the hottest aviators in the service before retiring to start Philippine Air Lines. Living in Manila with his wife and children, Gunn enjoyed the good life—yet he well knew the danger of Japanese expansion. After Pearl Harbor, he laid plans to get them to safety using his company’s planes. But the situation deteriorated faster than anyone expected, and Gunn was back in the war effort, using the airline’s planes to move Army personnel and equipment. When Manila fell, he was on a long-distance mission, too far away to save his family, who went into a prison camp. Gunn’s attempts to find a way back to rescue them never got off the ground; instead, he turned to tinkering on planes. His major coup was converting the B-25 medium bomber into a gunship, a new weapon that turned the tide against the Japanese navy. Bruning also follows the family’s grueling experiences in the prison. This is a compelling story with strong characters and a wealth of fascinating incidents, set against some of the fiercest action of the war. However, the author spends too much time going into bits of back story; while these passages fill in the portrait of Gunn, they slow down the flow of the main story. Bruning’s writing is workmanlike but never really smooth, and he sometimes neglects the larger context. Fortunately, the subject matter is strong enough, on the whole, to carry readers along. Certainly flawed, but it should appeal to readers who enjoy a good adventure and/or war story.

Kirkus Reviews