The Drums of War: An Autobiography by T.C. Corbett, 1917-1924 - William A. Corbett, Editor

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Book description:

The Drums of War is a deeply personal and intimate account of a young man’s flight training in 1918—where he learned about discipline, fear, courage, adversity, and depression—and his difficult return to civilian life and eventual hope for a brighter future.

Cy Corbett relished the excitement and adrenalin rush of early flight. During training, he experienced sixteen forced landings and one serious crash, but considered himself lucky: several fellow cadets were killed or seriously maimed. And through this, he learned that his “Irish Melancholy”—his depression—seemed to vanish while he was in flight.

The book begins with his contemporaneous journal entries as a student debating the merits of his country going to war alongside an old enemy—Britain. The author then joined the most perilous of services, the Army Air Corps. After earning his wings, and finally en route to his scheduled deployment overseas, Cy found himself in a train car waking to shouts and celebrating in the streets. The Armistice had been declared.

Returning home to a mundane civilian life was filled with confusion, disarray, romantic disappointment, the death of his mother, and finally, near the end, a ray of hope for the future.

This book is the first volume of a serialized autobiography written by former pilot and newspaperman Cy Corbett. The story is told through flight journals, diaries, and remembrances written fifty years after the fact. Cy’s observations progress from a matter-of-fact record of events to deeper reflections of how the army changed his life.

• Publisher : Mission Point Press (April 18, 2023)
• ISBN : 978-1-958363-71-3 (hardcover)
• ISBN : 978-1-958363-72-0 (softcover)
• Retail price : $22.95 (hardcover); $16.95 (softcover)
• Pages : 246
• Size : 6 x 9 inches