As a young boy growing up in Atlanta, playing with his model airplanes, Cecil Alexander dreamed of one day becoming an ace pilot. Fresh out of Yale University, he found himself stationed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as third in command of the famous Ace of Spades Marine Air Corps squadron. There he flew 60 dive-bombing missions and was twice honored with the Distinguished Flying Cross. Days of heart-stopping aerial missions were separated by long stretches of doldrums, trying to find ways to stay motivated to carry on. In this book, Alexander describes in detail just what it was like for him, shooting in and out of towering clouds, aiming the nose of his plane straight down at the unforgiving sea, pulling out of the dive at precisely the right moment. He writes too of his personal life -- his marriage to his young bride, Hermi, just before shipping out overseas, the characters he met along the way. The volume ends with a poignant return to the Marshall Islands, four decades after having served there. The rest of his life, as an architect, civil rights advocate and civic leader of Atlanta, Georgia, his home town, has been no less fascinating than his war years. Alexander tells the whole story, including this one, "The War Years ," in "Crossing The Line: The Awakening of a Good Ol' Boy, " also available on Amazon.