The Last American Hero: The Remarkable Life of John Glenn by Alice George. What can you say to a boy growing up in Ohio during the 1970s about astronaut John Glenn? Back then the word ‘hero’ was simply enough.
I can recall in grade school learning about John Glenn becoming the first American astronaut to circle the globe. The country was locked into a space race with the Soviet Union.
Recalling Neil Armstrong, another Ohio boy growing up just 80 miles south of my hometown would land on the moon. Glenn and Armstrong proved to me growing up in Ohio you could change the world.
The early life of John Glenn is interesting. His roots providing him with support and curiosity that served him well in life.
Combat missions
However Alice George provides greater insights to John Glenn’s military career. Quitting college to join the Air Force during World War II, Glenn flew over fifty combat missions. Glenn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
During the Korean War John flew over 60 combat missions. Alice reveals the loss of fellow airmen impacting John, including the number of missions resulting in his plane damage via enemy fire. Many readers may not recall Glenn volunteering to join a Corsair squadron based at Nanyuan Field near Beijing. He flew combat missions for almost a full year across China.
NASA Test Pilot
Along with his wife Anne, he was leading a dedicated, yet hard life as a military pilot. To no surprise the biggest stories about John Glenn revolve around test pilot experiences. With technology failures in the early NASA projects, many began questioning NASA’s missions. The title ‘test’ is so very accurate. Glenn’s life of purpose and dedication to our country remains an inspiration.
Most insightful elements reveal John’s relationship with John and Robert Kennedy while at NASA. Alice reveals that JFK and NASA leadership did not support Glenn’s requests to reenter space. The position reveals his accomplishment was so important that it would be a large blow to the NASA space program should he encounter death during any Apollo mission. Tragically the deaths of Apollo 1 astronauts Ed White, Roger Chaffee, and Gus Grissom validated such a precaution. There is much to learn about how NASA would later approach Shuttle accidents.
A late return to space, Senator-astronaut John Glenn on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998, over 30 years after his Friendship 7 orbit. This left his as Alice wrtes in a very unique position to student space effects upon senior citizens.
US Senate campaigns
John’s US Senate campaigns dominate the later half of the book. Yet, another side to the Glenn Kennedy relationship would play out again on the global stage. I was reminded upon RFK’s assassination, John and Annie actually where in attendance at the Ambassador Hotel. They went with the Kennedy family to the hospital, then took the Kennedy children home to Virginia the next morning. The Glenns were with the Kennedy children when RFK died, John also serving as a pallbearer at RFK’s funeral.
The world in the 1960s and 1970s was very different. At the same time, sports television programming emerged in the early 1980s with Dick Vitale hyper-sensationalizing each game to drive ratings had a ‘hero’ for each close game. Maybe a twitter ‘micro-heros’ best sums up where we find ourselves today.
However John Glenn was leading a truly hero’s life. From World War II to his space shuttle mission, Alice has written a wonderfully insightful book.
Smithsonian NASA Museum | An Evening With Two Mercury Astronauts
Historical Society of Pennsylvania | The Last American Hero
Ohio State University Libraries | John Glenn, the Last American Hero
Southeastern Pennsylvania Cold War Historical Society | The Last American Hero