Harry Mazer

Ben’s decision to join the military affects his entire family members, including his brother, who has autism and who announces that he, too, wishes to enlist. Ben’s convoy gets caught in an explosion, and he ends up in a coma for two months. When he wakes up, he doesn’t know where he is — or remember anything about his old life. His family and friends mourn what they see as a loss, but Ben perseveres. And as he triumphs, readers will relate to this timely novel that pairs the action and adventure of the best war stories with the emotional elements of struggle and transformation.

In 1944, as World War II is  raging across Europe, fifteen-year-old Jack Raab  dreams of being a hero. Leaving New York City, his  family, and his boyhood behind, Jack uses a false  I.D. and lies his way into the U.S. Air  Force.