Magnificent Obsession: Chicago attorney turns late father's tales of WWII glider heroics intobookAuthor(s): JILL SCHACHNER CHANENSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 81, No. 10 (OCTOBER 1995), p. 98Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27837348 .

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OUT OF THE OFFICE

Magnificent Obsession

Chicago attorney turns late father's tales of WWII glider heroics into book BY JILL SCHACHNER CHANEN

When Chicago lawyer Charles Masters was a boy he would listen, transfixed, as his father talked about the gliders that flew him be hind enemy lines on D-Day. But as his own interest in the aircraft grew, Masters found his father's willingness to talk about World War II and gliders waning.

Masters turned to books, docu mentaries and movies to learn more about the mysterious flying ma chines his father called Horsas, but found nothing to satisfy his curiosi ty. Then five years ago?nearly 20 years after his father's death?Mas ters happened upon a British book in a used bookstore that contained pictures of an American-made Wa co glider used in World War II.

"I figured that was what my dad was in," says Masters, a real estate lawyer with Schain, Firsel & Birney. But eventually he learned that the U.S. Army used two kinds of gliders during the war: the Waco and the British-made Horsa.

With his curiosity reignited, Masters' search for information about World War II gliders intensi fied. The book led him to the Silent Wings glider museum outside Dal las, which in turn led him to sur viving WWII glidermen, who led him to more glidermen.

They told him stories that his father, who died when Masters was 21, was unable to tell. They sent him photographs and memorabilia. And what once was a smoldering interest soon became an obsession.

Masters, 45, has spent the past four years balancing his law prac tice with his quest to find out about the gliders his father flew. He spent his evenings, weekends and vaca tions researching gliders and col lecting WWII glider memorabilia.

Eventually, friends convinced him to write a book on his findings, "The Glidermen of Neptune," which will be published in November by Southern Illinois University Press. The title refers to the Army's code name for the D-Day cross-channel

Jill Schachner Chanen is a lawyer and free-lance writer based in Chicago.

attack, Operation Neptune. Masters' collection includes

original war photos, stamps, army medals and the control panel from a glider. "I've been told that Fve as sembled the finest collection there is. That was another reason to turn it into a book, to let people see a

Charles Masters relates history of glidermen in D-Day mission.

glider. Because who uses a glider in war?" He eventually was able to an swer that question for himself, plus a few other lingering ones.

In his quest to find the Horsas that flew his father, he also learned a little about the men who flew in them. "I started learning about gli dermen and their training, and the uniqueness of these guys and what kind of men it took to fly in un armed, engineless, canvas-covered

gliders into the most heavily de fended part of Europe against the most highly mechanized army in the history of the world," says Mas ters. "Who does this? Who would go into a glider like this?"

Since helicopters were not in use in WWII, the Army used gliders to carry troops and weapons into enemy territory. The theory was that they could land quickly and silent ly, and that the troops could begin fighting within minutes of landing.

Gliders have not been used in war since then. "It was a small use, and very few men did this," Masters explains. "It wasn't given the same sort of attention that all the other [aspects of the war] were given."

The gliders were made of ei ther plywood or of metal and can

vas; they bore lit tle, if any, resem

blance to the sleek, aerodynamic mod els flown for sport today. WWII glid ers were nick

named "flying cof fins" due to their destructibility.

Flying With Lady Luck Masters says

gliders were used with great success in the D-Day oper ation. The plan for the invasion of Normandy relied upon glider mis sions landing in central France to distract German forces as the Allied seaborne troops came on shore.

Although glid er missions were

instrumental in the success of D Day, many glidermen did not sur vive. The flimsy aircraft had no

navigational or landing equipment, relying mostly on luck to land. The Germans exacerbated landing diffi culties by planting nearly 2 million anti-glider poles in anticipation of an attack in France. Masters says 15 percent to 33 percent of the glid er missions ended in death or injury.

Since word of his book has spread, Masters has received nu

merous calls and letters each week from people wanting to know where their glidermen fathers went in the war. He says he hopes his book will help other children of the war learn about these missions and about their fathers.

It certainly did for Masters. "Looking back now and seeing

what he went through as a 21-year old, it really did give me a sense of appreciation."

98 ABA JOURNAL / OCTOBER 1995 abaj/cynthia howe

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