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Martin's Must Reads: 'The Last Fighter Pilot'

It was August 15, 1945 and Captain Jerry Yellin and his wingman First Lieutenant Phillip Schlamberg were in their fearsome P51 Mustangs over Tokyo. The second atomic bomb had dropped on Nagasaki, Japan just six days earlier. Captain Yellin would return to his base on Iwo Jima. “Phil Schlamberg, as it turned out would take his place in history as the last-known combat death of World War II, and together, Phil and Jerry had flown the final combat mission of the war.”

I’m Mark Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and Don Brown and Captain Jerry Yellin in their book The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II recounts the incredible story of fighter pilots at the end of World War II and the final mission.

The book follows the story of Captain Jerry Yellin from his flight training in Hawaii to assignment on Iwo Jima--while the famous battle was still going on--to the final combat mission of World War II. Sent to Iwo Jima to support Marines fighting to take the island, their missions evolved into escorting B29 bombers over Japan.

The authors take the reader into the cockpit through terrifying mission after terrifying mission where the enemy was not only the Japanese but the weather, army command and fatigue. The Last Fighter Pilot is not just another book on war experiences. Captain Yellin relives what it feels like to lose sixteen dear friends, comrades in arms, in battle, ending with the last death on the last mission, that of Phil Schlamberg.

If you are looking for a story of the human side of men in combat during the final months of World War II, then Don Brown and Captain Jerry Yellin’s book The Last Fighter Pilot is a must read.

Mark co-hosted "Martin's Must Reads" until October 2022. He passed away unexpectedly on October 21, 2022.
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