Spectator

From Greenwich Village to Guadalcanal in just over a year, David Zellmer would find piloting a B-24 bomber in the South Pacific a far cry from his life as a fledgling member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. He soon discovered the unimagined thrills of first flights and the astonishment of learning that an aerial spin was merely a vertical pirouette which one spotted on a barn thousands of feet below, instead of on a doorknob in Martha's studio. Reconstructed from letters home, this captivating account traces Zellmer's journey from New York to the islands of the South Pacific as the 13th Air Force battled to push back the Japanese invaders in 1943 and 1944.Spurred to action by encouraging letters from Martha Graham, who urges him to document his participation in the great tragic play of the Second World War, Zellmer struggles to come to terms with the fears and joys of flying, of killing and being killed. Each stage of the battle takes him farther and farther from those he loves, until the soft night breezes and moon-splashed surf no longer work their magic. From bombing runs against Truk, the infamous headquarters of the Japanese Fleet, to much savored slivers of civilization in Auckland and Sydney, the young pilot bemoans a gnawing concern at a loss of sensation, the prospect of life—not as a performer, but as a spectator. With distant memories of life on the stage, he finds that only the threat of death can bring the same intensity of feeling.

"We can see how the discipline of the dance contributed to his success as an airman--another occupation demanding teamwork with meticulous precision....He accepted hardship and danger uncomplainingly, and has left a record of his experiences that will be of intense interest, not only to historians of the campaign, but to anyone interested in knowing what it was like to be a young American in the 1940s."-from the foreword by Sir Michael Howard Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University, "Zellmer has captured the smells of the tropics, the color of clouds and sunsets, the memories of home and those far away, and the loyalties that men engaged in a fierce struggle for survival must cherish. He has recaptured for our technological age, where all take for granted the experiences, sounds, and sensations of flight, the feelings of another age where flight, even under the conditions of fear and terror, brought a sense of awe and beauty to those who flew."-from the foreword by Williamson Murray Professor of Military History, US Army War College, "Zellmer is no throwback, no Rupert Brooke or Siegfried Sassoon for whom the war is a kind of backdrop. He understands himself as a pilot, member of an air crew and a squadron, who has interrupted his life to drop bombs. But his identity as an artist informs his perceptions throughout, and provides a perspective on the Pacific War that is unusual enough to be called unique."-Dennis Showalter Professor of History, United States Military Academy, "It is fortunate for us that Zellmer, a broadcast writer and producer at CBS, saved his wartime letters to his former choreographer, Martha Graham....It's all there--the endless boredom, brief moments of excitement, and unexpected death....[T]his vivid, poetic book is definitely worthwhile."-Library Journal, ?It is fortunate for us that Zellmer, a broadcast writer and producer at CBS, saved his wartime letters to his former choreographer, Martha Graham....It's all there--the endless boredom, brief moments of excitement, and unexpected death....[T]his vivid, poetic book is definitely worthwhile.?-Library Journal

DAVID ZELLMER became an Air Cadet in October of 1942—within days of giving his final performance as a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company./e Forty-six missions and 12 months later, he returned to the United States to begin life anew. Eventually he went on to pursue a career in broadcast journalism as a writer and producer at CBS News. This is his first book.