The true story of the legendary soldier who performed more POW raids than any other American in history.
He went into battle as a boy. And, on one of the most daring missions of World War II, he became a man- and the perfect soldier for America's next wars...
Galen Charles Kittleson was slight, modest, and born to wage war. The son of an Iowa farmer, Kittleson volunteered in 1943 and caught the eye of his commanders. By 1945, PFC Kittleson was selected for the Army's smallest elite unit, the Alamo Scouts. While U.S. forces were pushing back the Japanese in the Pacific, the Alamo scouts unleashed legendary raids deep behind enemy lines, including the liberation of over 500 starved, beaten prisoners of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. For Kittleson, a career as a raider had just begun...
Charles W. Sasser chronicles the remarkable journey that was Kit Kittleson's courageous life in the service of his country. Now a veteran after first going to war as a boy twenty-five years ago, Kittleson volunteered for one last mission- the most extraordinary and daring POW raid ever attempted by secret American Special Forces in Vietnam...
"Containing some of the best writing in the field...provides an electrifying glimpse into the dangerous life of a chopper pilot in Vietnam."
W.E.B. Griffin, Bestselling Author of the Corps Series on Taking Fire
"A gripping combat memoir . . . honest and exciting . . . a rousing tale, full of sharp detail and told in the harsh language of soldiers baptized in fire."
Kirkus Review
"Everybody who survived ground combat in Vietnam had his life saved at one time or another by helicopter crews. We were in awe of them. You will be too after reading Taking Fire."
Jim Morris, author of War Story and The Devil's Secret Name
