Devotion (Adapted for Young Adults): An Epic Story of Heroism and Friendship

About the Author\nHailed as "a masterful storyteller" by the Associated Press, Adam Makos is the author of the New York Times bestsellers A Higher Call and Spearhead and of the critically acclaimed Devotion. In the course of his research, Makos has flown a World War II bomber, accompanied a Special Forces raid in Iraq, and journeyed into North Korea in search of an MIA American airman. Visit him online at AdamMakos.com and follow him on Instagram.\nA young adult adaptation of the national bestseller that details the true story of two Navy pilots from divergent racial and economic backgrounds who forge a deep friendship during the Korean War as they face extraordinary circumstances.\nSoon to be major motion picture starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, with a supporting cast including Joe Jonas!\nLieutenant Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, both Navy pilots during the Korean War in 1950, come from different backgrounds: Hudner is a white New Englander, a son of privilege; Brown is an African American son of a sharecropper from Mississippi. When the two men join forces in Fighter Squadron 32, they forge a deep friendship at a time when racial inequality was prevalent in America.\nAn unwavering commitment binds Tom and Jesse to each other as well as to their comrades. The two fly to save a division of US Marines cornered during the battle at Chosin Reservoir, but catastrophe strikes when one of them is shot down behind enemy lines and trapped in the wreckage of his plane. The other will face an unthinkable choice: watch their friend die, or attempt one of history’s most audacious one-man rescue missions.\nWhat transpires is harrowing and heartbreaking, an inspirational story for all time.\nExcerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.\nCHAPTER 1
GHOSTS AND SHADOWS
December 4, 1950
North Korea, during the first year of the Korean War
In a flash, a Corsair fighter plane burst around the edge of a snow-covered valley, turning sharply. The plane’s engine snarled. A bomb hung from its belly, and rockets dangled from its wings.
Another roar shook the valley. A second Corsair blasted around the edge. Then came a third, a fourth, a fifth, and more until ten planes had fallen in line.
The Corsairs dropped low over a snow-packed road. They glided between ice-capped hills and dead trees. It was official: they were now flying far behind enemy lines.
From the cockpit of the fourth Corsair, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Tom Hudner reached to the switches above the plane’s instrument panel. With a flick, he armed his eight rockets.
Tom was twenty-six and a navy carrier pilot. His white helmet and raised goggles framed the face of a movie star--ice-blue eyes, a chiseled nose, and a cleft chin. He dressed the part, too, in a dark brown leather jacket with a reddish fur collar. But Tom could never cut it as a star of the silver screen--his eyes were too humble.
At 250 miles per hour, Tom chased the plane ahead of him. It was nearly 3 p.m. Dark clouds draped the sky. Tom glanced from side to side and checked his wing tips as the treetops whipped by. Beyond the hills lay a frozen lake called the Chosin Reservoir. The flight was following the road up the reservoir’s western side.
The radio crackled in Tom’s earphones. The flight leader was calling the base. His report? “All quiet, so far.”
“Copy that,” replied a tired voice. Seven miles away, at the foot of the reservoir, a Marine air controller was shivering in his tent at the American base. His maps revealed a dire situation. The enemy had the Marines surrounded. To top it off, it was one of the coldest winters on record.\nThe engine droned. Tom edged forward in his seat, his eyes settling on the Corsair in front of him.\nIn the plane ahead, a pilot peered through the rings of his gunsight. The man’s face was slender beneath his helmet, his eyebrows angled over honest dark eyes. Just twenty-four, Ensign Jesse Brown was the first African American carrier pilot in the