Pickle Barrel and Mushroom

Robert Underhill was born in Indiana and took his undergraduate work at Manchester University in Indiana. He was in the army as a flying cadet when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and after getting his wings became an instructor at bombardier and navigation schools in the southwest. He went overseas at the beginning of 1944 and flew 50 combat missions with the 15th Air Force before being shot down over Germany. Rescued by Polish patriots, he was escorted into Russia before being returned to the States. Released from active duty at the war's end, he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston and had a stint of teaching there before being appointed to the faculty at Iowa State in Ames.
In Chicago, Robert and Margaret Phelps married and came to Ames in 1947. At Iowa State, Robert rose to become a full professor and administrator, serving as Chairman of the Department of Speech. He retired in 1986 and now is an Emeritus Professor of English and Speech at Iowa State University. In addition to scholarly articles, Dr. Underhill has written sixteen books, mainly histories or biographies but also three novels.

America entered WWII with minimal air power: few fighter planes and less than three dozen four-engine bombers. Yet the nation had unmatchable advantages with its enormous industrial capacity, men and women ready to meet every need, and scientists at work on atomic theories. Armed forces swelled, the most remarkable growth being in the Army Air Corps.
Allied strategists adopted a policy of winning the war in Europe before launching an all-out offensive against Japan. Heroic U.S. marine and navy fighters held Nipponese forces at bay until the beginning of 1945. By then, island after island was captured, and a 20th Air Force was established with B-29s-Superfortresses-able to make disastrous fire bombing raids on the Japanese homeland.
Scientists and associated engineers in America were able to construct an atomic bomb, and a successful test drop in New Mexico convinced the nation's leaders that atomic bombs were feasible. Two such missiles subsequently dropped on Japanese targets brought WWII to its end in the late summer of 1945.