Date/Time
Date(s) - Wed, 05/15/19
6:00 pm - 7:15 pm
Location
Andover Public Library
Adults and Teens 12 & Up
Meet the Author, Tim Carroll
On Wednesday, May 15, author Tim Carroll will talk to us about his recently (March 18) published book: World War II Akron. Read more …
Tim is an Akron native and graduate of the University of Akron with a degree in history and a masters in education. Both of his grandfathers served in World War II. His interest in writing about the war began when he read his Grandfather Carroll’s war letters. He started writing about those personal letters and then expanded his interest to a long overlooked topic: Akron and Ohio’s part in the war effort. Tim spent months researching WWII and tracking down rare photographs of Akron and Ohio’s war and aviation history. He has possibly the best collection of such pictures to be published in recent years.
The information presented in the book is thoroughly documented and tells not only of Akron’s role in producing blimps, planes and other industrial efforts for the struggle but of the ultimate sacrifices families made.
An example:
“By the time it was all over, there would be well over 1,500 Akron-area deaths. Increased fighting in Italy in early 1944 and the invasion of Europe opened up the floodgates of death. Over 100 eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds from the Boy Scout Draft perished along with 192 Akron-area fathers. Akron had its first set of brothers killed in action in July 1944, and by war’s end, fifteen Akron-area families had lost more than one son. In 1944, the war killed 741 Akron area men. Many argue that was the bloodiest year of the war, since 490 men died from the Akron area in 1945. That is a mistake, however, because 972 Akron area men died between June 1, 1944, and May 31, 1945—this was the deadliest year.”