A Piece of the Greatest Generation

About the Book

Harrison Charles Scranton was a Connecticut native that at age 16 with his family moved to Southern California. His interest in flying provided the original motivation for writing this book as described in the first page. Read his various exploits during his time in the Service. Find out what it was like being in the Army Air Forces in the early days. See how changing from the Army Air Forces to it's own branch of service the United States Air Force changed the mission and responsibilities. Find out how the average "joe" used to behave during this time frame. Laugh and cry at the many stories that are told about his everyday activities. Be with him as he was swept up in the events of December 7, 1941. Find out how he managed to get along with his new assignment in the Northeast Air Command, with time spent at Thule, Greenland. Find out what it was like to plan for your retirement and the many hurtles that had to be jumped for that to occur. Last but not least, be with him at his retirement parade that an Officer in the USAF receives if requested. This is a true account of a service man's experience in the Service of his country for 30 years. Robert (Bob) Scranton son of Harrison Charles Scranton

About the Author

Harrison Charles Scranton in 1928 was a typical youth doing various odd jobs while he went to school. He quit school after the 10th Grade to work as a steeple jack for his father in his business. A steeple jack, paints and repairs tall objects such as church steeples, public buildings, flag poles etc. This is where he learned to tie life saving knots in rope. Great story in the book about this. He did not particularly like that work and was looking to do something different. With his interest in flying, and his interest in serving his country, he joined with some friends the U S Army that had a segment (Signal Corps) that flew airplanes. With that interest, he chose to join up and the book details his various activities. He really wanted to be a pilot, however he did not have a college degree, so he became a mechanic, bombardier and finally taught bombing to new recruits coming into the service. He finally did end up getting his GED while in the service. He had many other duties as most service guys do. He really loved being around any of the Aircraft that the Army Air Corp had especially the bombers. The many pictures in the book depict this interest.