What do you think?
Rate this book
Your Loving Son Ty: A World War II Story of Hope and Horror in the Pacific
From flying high to fighting for his life.
In 1940 when adventure called, Madsen "Ty" Cobb Kokjer dropped out of college and joined the Army Air Corps to become a pilot. This book is the memoir he might have written about the war he so unexpectedly found himself in.
After a year of exhilaration—learning to fly, visiting places he had never been, meeting other young men like himself from all over the country—Ty and his friends arrived in the Philippines days before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Hours after that attack, Japan bombed other U.S. bases in the Pacific, including those near Manila.
Ty and other pilots were eager to bomb Japanese ships, but their planes were still on a navy convoy, many miles away. The pilots became members of the infantry, but after four months of battle, the United States surrendered the Philippines. 78,000 American and Filipino soldiers became prisoners of war and began the cruel and deadly 60-mile Bataan Death March. Ty was one of the few to escape.
For eight months, Ty and two other American soldiers hid with a Filipino family who housed and fed them at great risk to themselves. During that time, Ty kept a diary, which along with hundreds of letters written by Ty, his parents, and others, tell one young man's World War II story.
Order your copy of this gripping WW2 true story today.
In 1940 when adventure called, Madsen "Ty" Cobb Kokjer dropped out of college and joined the Army Air Corps to become a pilot. This book is the memoir he might have written about the war he so unexpectedly found himself in.
After a year of exhilaration—learning to fly, visiting places he had never been, meeting other young men like himself from all over the country—Ty and his friends arrived in the Philippines days before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Hours after that attack, Japan bombed other U.S. bases in the Pacific, including those near Manila.
Ty and other pilots were eager to bomb Japanese ships, but their planes were still on a navy convoy, many miles away. The pilots became members of the infantry, but after four months of battle, the United States surrendered the Philippines. 78,000 American and Filipino soldiers became prisoners of war and began the cruel and deadly 60-mile Bataan Death March. Ty was one of the few to escape.
For eight months, Ty and two other American soldiers hid with a Filipino family who housed and fed them at great risk to themselves. During that time, Ty kept a diary, which along with hundreds of letters written by Ty, his parents, and others, tell one young man's World War II story.
Order your copy of this gripping WW2 true story today.
302 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2023
2 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 30, 2024
This isn't just another WWII story. Jody Beck weaves a stark, detailed and personal depiction of a pilot in the Second World War. Ty came from what many may see initially as an average Middle-American family, with details of his life captured in a succinct timeline that share how anyone's life can be changed drastically by war.
Jody's familial connection to Ty is written from a journalist's eye: she brings receipts, quotes, and an organized perspective that shows how a life can unravel in the blink of an eye. What reads as initially as an editorial recount of a young man's life turns into an emotional upheaval with a daring escape you need to read to believe. By bringing his diary to life, Jody preserves not only his life but a view of WWII rarely seen, by a pilot in the Pacific stranded, in hiding, just wanting to go home to his family.
Her compelling and clear-cut writing style keep the story moving and reader engrossed. I walked away learning so much more about WWII from the account of those who saw it unfold.
Jody's familial connection to Ty is written from a journalist's eye: she brings receipts, quotes, and an organized perspective that shows how a life can unravel in the blink of an eye. What reads as initially as an editorial recount of a young man's life turns into an emotional upheaval with a daring escape you need to read to believe. By bringing his diary to life, Jody preserves not only his life but a view of WWII rarely seen, by a pilot in the Pacific stranded, in hiding, just wanting to go home to his family.
Her compelling and clear-cut writing style keep the story moving and reader engrossed. I walked away learning so much more about WWII from the account of those who saw it unfold.
January 21, 2024
As a student of history, I appreciate how Jody Beck expertly tells this moving story about Ty Kokjer against the backdrop of the decisions and events leading up to and during World War II.
Her compelling narrative is built on a solid foundation of facts, thorough documentation, and a reporter’s keen eye for detail.
Ty Kokjer’s story is reminder of what author and journalist Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation” went through—and often suffered and paid the ultimate price—for our country. It’s an important history lesson that should never be forgotten.
Jody Beck brings that lesson to life again for new generations of readers.
Her compelling narrative is built on a solid foundation of facts, thorough documentation, and a reporter’s keen eye for detail.
Ty Kokjer’s story is reminder of what author and journalist Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation” went through—and often suffered and paid the ultimate price—for our country. It’s an important history lesson that should never be forgotten.
Jody Beck brings that lesson to life again for new generations of readers.
January 20, 2024
Jody Beck has given us one soldier’s personal account of the months of horror and moments of hope that consumed his wartime experience in the Pacific in WWII. Ty Kokjer’s diary is, as she reports, a rarity, and we can only be thankful for its preservation through the worst of times and conditions. Through masterful research and organization, as well as topnotch reporting, she has now made this history of his heroic and heartbreaking service available to all of us. The reader should be prepared for one of the most moving narratives ever read.
February 3, 2024
A meticulously researched story by an accomplished journalist that sheds new light on a dark period in world history.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews