Tucker wins medal for memoir

More than six decades ago Ken Tucker was one of many hundreds of Allied airmen who flew bombing missions over Europe.

Some died heroes in the costly war to liberate a continent from tyranny. Others were left to tell their tale, but many either could not find words for what happened, or the emotional strength to recollect them.

Tucker was able to do both, and quite admirably, as evidenced by the gold medal his wartime memoirs received in November from the Florida Publishers Association (FPA).

At a Nov. 5 banquet at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel on Lido Beach, in Sarasota, the publishers association awarded Tucker’s book, “Last Roll Call: the Adventures of a B-17 Tailgunner,” with a 2011 President Book Award for autobiography /memoir.

Two dozen librarians from across the state anchored the panel of judges, who awarded one gold and two silver medals in each of 13 categories, with a record number of entries, everything from children’s and adult’s fiction to coffee table books, cover design and e-books.

“I thought it was great,” said Tucker, whose daughters, Wanda and Barbara, attended the banquet on their father’s behalf. “I was really pleased because it was something I never contemplated.”

Wanda Tucker Goodwin, a retired language arts teacher who co-authored the work with her 86-year-old dad, accepted the Gold Medal award. “I felt like I was at the Olympics,” she said.

Goodwin, who has shepherded the book project from its early beginnings to its upcoming third printing, also attended other portions of the FPA Publishing Ed-U-Conference, themed “Publishing in a Digital Age.” Serving as featured speaker was B rian Jud, an author, publisher, and leading expert in the word of book-marketing, especially in helping publishers market their books in non-bookstore markets.

A discovery of crew’s families

As small, self-published books go, Tucker’s work has been a remarkable success ever since it debuted in Nov. 2009. He and his daughter envisioned a story broader than just wartime exploits, one that reached deep into the Tucker and Segree family roots in the county, and traced the passage into adulthood of a young man, confronted by a world war and entrusted with the task of operating a pair of M2 Browning machine guns from the cramped tail of a B-17 “Flying Fortress.”

The name of that plane, the “Kwiturbitchin” is the reason Tucker learned last year that the title of his book “Last Roll Call,” had not been based on 100 percent accurate information.

A caregiver for the plane’s pilot, Lt. Louis Dunigan, at 94 years old living out his final days with Alzheimer’s, was curious about Dunigan’s war record. He looked through his papers, found the name of the plane, Googled it and up popped Tucker’s book at www.lastrollcall.net

Dunigan’s daughter, Betty Yarbrough, of Plano, Texas, wrote to Tucker to tell him her father, a retired Army colonel, was still alive, greatly diminished in function. Dunigan had visited with Tucker in Fort Walton Beach 20 years ago but they had since lost touch.

“He was getting real forgetful (then),” said Tucker, of the man whose leadership throughout the war is held in high esteem throughout the memoir’s passages on their more than 35 missions flown together with the 15th Air Force, 97th Bomb Group, 414th Bomb Squadron, of a rustic base in Amendola, Italy.

Dunigan died about six months ago, at age 94.

Tucker also connected with the family of the crew’s flight engineer, Clyde DeWhite, whose only daughter, Barbara Moran, of Coleman, Texas, said her father had lived out his life just as Tucker had described in his book, where he called him “one of the most resourceful people I have known.”

Goodwin said DeWhite’s grandson told her Tucker “nailed him perfectly in his description.”

Tucker also heard from the grandson of the plane’s ball turret gunner, Jack Taylor,, who is now in Air Force tech school and stationed in Mississippi. “He wants to come over and visit soon,” said Tucker.

Raves from young and old

The third edition of the book, by Rose Printing Company Inc., is coming out this month, and will include a few minor revisions, based on the eagle eyes of astute readers.

Goodwin said one was the proper presentation of military time in Tucker’s references to his bombing missions, and another was a reference to  the Tally Ho Drive-In in Panama City, at U.S. 98 and Harrison Avenue, where Tucker had written that the “car hops are still there today.”

The drive-in still offers curb service, but he and his daughter decided it best to rephrase.

Most importantly, the new edition features the Gold Medal award on the cover and four pages of comments, from young people, teachers, veterans and authors, who have raved about the accuracy, readability and down-to-earth writing of the memoir.

Retired teacher, Daudet Schreurs, from Hot Springs, Arkansas, who met Tucker at a booksigning in Seaside, wrote that “you have given me, and many others, knowledge and insight about the brave young men who gave so much. Your experience was similar to my dad’s. He died far too young at 53. I feel as though you have given part of him back to me.”

Tim Baade, a vice president with Kimberly Clark described the book as “a wonderful and powerful story and more than one time I had tears in my eyes. “

Janet Mueller , from Naples, wrote Tucker to tell him her father, a co-pilot in World War II, “has read many aircrew memoirs but found yours to be the most vivid and accurate he’s ever read. As he neared the end, he kept putting the book aside and reading only a page or two because he didn’t want the story to end.”

Middle and high school students, such as the ones in the Advanced Placement English class at Rutherford High School or in a history class at Bozeman, have shared delight over the book. Goodwin especially takes pride in this, because as a retired English teacher, shoe knows first-hand how difficult it can be to get young people, especially boys, to read.

“It’s been a surprise to both of us, that it is popular in schools,” she said. “It’s simply written, in a style that appeals.”

Eighth grader Sara Martin described it as “one of the most fabulous books I have ever read. There were so many emotions expressed in just one book. It’s so good it needs to be made into a movie.”

Seventh grader Nicolas Reeve wrote to say how the book “made me proud of my Grandpa who served in World War II.”

The book has also received kudos from such people as Dr. Richard C. Weiss, an associate professor of pathobiology at Auburn who helped develop a vaccine against feline leukemia virus, who wrote that ““My respect and admiration – and love – for our airmen who so courageously flew these magnificent bombers to help defeat the Nazis rose exponentially after reading Ken’s account. Every night when I was reading this book before retiring, it literally became my world…and much more so than watching a movie.”

Historian Hugh T. Harrington commented that “Perhaps it is odd but I found myself envying you, and your experiences, and wishing I had actually gone long with you. Your writing made me want to share your dangers, your training, your fun with you… and made me feel like I missed something because I had not been there.”

Rob Morris, author of author of “Untold Valor: Forgotten Stories of American Bomber Crews over Europe in World War II,” wrote to say that “there were very few reporters willing or able to go to Amendola Italy and live in the alternately muddy and dusty tent cities there, surrounded by the crushing poverty of the Italian natives. Mr. Tucker’s writing is clear, unembellished and honest. He develops the personalities of the various members of the crew as he recounts the missions, so that one feels like one knows the young men on the crew.”

And there’s even more good things in store.

Kristina McMorris, an award winning author of women’s fiction, including a World War II love story “Letters from Home,” contacted Tucker and Goodwin, as part of her research for a book she is writing, whose central character is a B-17 gunner in the Pacific.

“Mr. Tucker - If you have a moment, and are comfortable sharing, I do have one area of inquiry. I was hoping you could tell me your approximate height and weight during your service as a tail gunner. It is my understanding that the ball-turret gunners required the smallest size of the crew, but I had heard that this was also an element of importance for tail gunners due to the limited space in your compartment. I would welcome your input, as I strive to be as accurate as possible.”

Tucker gladly provided the novelist with the details she needed.

For more information, visit www.lastrollcall.net or email Ken Tucker at kenstucker@aol.com or Wanda Goodwin at wandatgoodwin@aol.com