Flying Fortress Gunner: B-17 Ball Turret Gunner Bob Harper's 35 Combat Missions over Germany trial Stokely captures the life of

Stokely captures the life of the man whose uncompromising vision defined political radicalism and provoked a national reckoning on race and democracy

grew to become a proponent of the personal and citizenship rights of those formerly enslaved

were convinced that war offered the country the only way to assume its rightful place in world affairs

Paul Ringel

Analyzing letters and diaries written by soldiers and civilians

Flying Fortress Gunner: B-17 Ball Turret Gunner Bob Harper's 35 Combat Missions over Germany trial Stokely captures the life ofby Bill Cullen The biography of Bob Harper, a B 17 ball turret gunner with the 8th Air Force who survived 35 combat missions over Germany in WWII, and was shot down twice. At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing just 110 pounds, Bob Harper was below the minimum size requirements for US military service. As the demand for manpower increased, rules were bent, Harpers deferment was retracted, and he was drafted into the Army. Harper was deployed to the