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A review by komet2020
THE DIARY OF PRIVATE JESSE STOLLAR, UNITED STATES 2nd ARMY AIR SERVICE, 25th AERO SQUADRON, AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, WORLD WAR I by Steven Biedenbach
informative
fast-paced
3.25
This book is a collection by Steven Biedenbach of a diary, postcards, photos, and a ledger that was kept by Private Jesse Stollar (1899-1949) during his service with the U.S. Army Air Service with the 25th Aero Squadron. (Biedenbach is a grandson of Stollar who was born several years after Stollar's death.)
The 25th Aero Squadron was the only fighter squadron in the Air Service to fly the British S.E.5A fighter plane over the Western Front. It had arrived in England in January 1918 and spent the next 6 months receiving training courtesy of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and its successor, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The 25th Aero Squadron was then placed directly under U.S. Army command and shipped over to France in August 1918. It arrived at the Front shortly before the Armistice that ended World War I, seeing only limited action over the lines without encountering the enemy in the air.
The value of this book comes in giving the reader a tangible sense of what an enlisted man experienced during his stint with the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I. There are also some details about Stollar's postwar life back in Ohio.
The 25th Aero Squadron was the only fighter squadron in the Air Service to fly the British S.E.5A fighter plane over the Western Front. It had arrived in England in January 1918 and spent the next 6 months receiving training courtesy of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and its successor, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The 25th Aero Squadron was then placed directly under U.S. Army command and shipped over to France in August 1918. It arrived at the Front shortly before the Armistice that ended World War I, seeing only limited action over the lines without encountering the enemy in the air.
The value of this book comes in giving the reader a tangible sense of what an enlisted man experienced during his stint with the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I. There are also some details about Stollar's postwar life back in Ohio.