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MWSA Review
Broken Destiny: The story of Sergeant William M. O’Loughlin, United States Army Air Force tells a story like many others of the WWII era—seemingly normal people performing under extraordinary conditions. What breaks this story apart from others is the way it is told in such a personal way. The main author, Mark Verwiel, wrote this book based on his great uncle Bill (Sergeant O’Laughlin) whom he knew little about until finding his photo in family files.
Verwiel introduces readers to Bill as the larger-than-life character he was. He’s confident, and he’s funny. He has a way with the ladies, but once in love he is devoted to her like no other. There are so many dimensions to this story to enjoy. From the realities of “hurry up and wait” training to the intensity of combat missions and tasting unknown fears. He shows the human bonds of brothers in combat and sets the scenes of the campaigns from North Africa to Italy. The technical details do not distract from the story and help place readers in the aircraft from takeoff to full mission chaos.
The rhythm of the book ebbs and flows by weaving Sergeant O’Loughlin’s life overseas with the life of his new bride Betty and the rest of his family back home in the Midwest. Family letters and descriptions from family members helped create these honest portrayals of the worry and concern of families trying to read through censored letters where their family members really were. Verwiel portrays the hardships of loneliness, bearing children alone, and families standing together to try and pull through the most difficult times in their lives.
This book is highly recommended for those who want to read about a real-life family in WW2. While it is a biography, it reads like a novel with likeable characters and a solid story line. I won’t be forgetting this book any time soon.
Review by Valerie Ormond
Author's Synopsis
In this remarkable biography of Sergeant William M. O’Loughlin, the author, Mark Verwiel, portrays thrilling aerial combat over North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Italy during some of the most savage fighting of World War II. Then came the fateful day when O’Loughlin’s squadron of B25 Mitchell bombers was launched to destroy the Isoletta Dam and break the formidable Gothic Line. What happened next to O’Loughlin was lost to history.
While casually perusing a family photo album, Verwiel discovered a vintage newspaper clipping of men who had fallen in battle. “Who was this?” he asked, and his father replied, “That’s your Uncle Bill.” This was the first that Verwiel had heard that one of his relatives had served, much less that he had been killed in action. So began a quest to learn about the man behind the name, and equally important, why his story had been all but forgotten.
William Maurice O’Loughlin was a product of the Great Depression and when the stormy clouds of war darkened the horizon, he volunteered for military service. Whatever his plans might have been, they were upended when he met Betty Cummings. After a whirlwind romance, he shipped overseas to begin his combat tour as an aircrewman, and he left behind a new bride, pregnant and hopeful.
O’Loughlin’s loss broke Betty’s heart and that of a daughter he was never to meet. His tragic death rippled silently across the generations until Verwiel and his family amassed the historical record and breathed life into O’Loughlin’s wartime adventures.
When we think of World War II, what comes to mind are the sweeps of armies across continents, the grand strategies of generals and admirals. But victory was only possible by the sacrifice of the ordinary man in uniform, doing his duty, and this is such a story.
Format(s) for review: Kindle or Paper
Review genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Pages/Word count: 286 / 54,034