The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams
Adam Lazarus
The untold story of the unique fifty-year friendship between two American John Glenn, the unassailable pioneer of space exploration and Ted Williams, indisputably the greatest hitter in baseball history. It was 1953, the Korean War in full throttle, when two men—already experts in their fields—crossed the fabled 38th Parallel into Communist airspace aboard matching Panther jets. John Glenn was an ambitious operations officer with fifty-nine World War II combat missions under his belt. more
304 pages, Hardcover
First published Citadel
4.22
Rating
418
Ratings
52
Reviews
Adam Lazarus
6 books 15 followers
Community reviews
The author begins with a definition:wingman nouna : a pilot who flies behind and outside the leader of a flying formationb informal : a male friend or partner who accompanies and supports a man in some activityHe means to suggest that John Glenn and Ted Williams were wingmen to each other and in both definitions. I confess that although Glenn and Williams were large figures in my early childhood I never connected the two. But connected they were. The short version is that Glenn and Williams were both pilots in the Korean War, with Williams serving as Glenn's wingman. Glenn, an ambitious marine, pulled strings to get there. more
Adam Lazarus' new book (released Aug 22, 2023), "The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams" is a captivating exploration of the unlikely bond between two iconic figures, astronaut John Glenn and baseball legend Ted Williams. While the book successfully sheds light on their unique camaraderie, it also falls short in certain aspects, leaving readers with mixed feelings about its overall impact. Lazarus masterfully delves into the lives of Glenn and Williams, providing readers with a compelling account of their friendship. He skillfully juxtaposes their vastly different backgrounds and accomplishments, highlighting the curious circumstances that brought them together. The book offers a fascinating insight into the parallel worlds of space exploration and professional sports, showcasing the contrast between Glenn's pioneering space missions and Williams' record-breaking baseball career. more
Centered around the Korean War, this book tells the life story of Ted Williams and John Glenn. While serving in Korea they became friends. While this book is sold as a unique friendship between a flying ace and one of the best hitters in MLB history, it really tells more as two separate stories. While the premise is misleading, the book is still fascinating. Mr. more
can't rate this as stopped before finishing. I only got to 25%, and stopped as thought i would be more interested in these two heroes than that i actually was. I liked reading about their military careers and successive moves with families. Less interest in Ted Williams' baseball. Lots of facts and research; valuable to certain people Some parts about their flying were pretty interesting re what they did in their various planes for the successive wars they were involved in, especially when their paths crossed. more
Enjoyable read, learned more about both Ted Williams and John Glenn, two American icons . more
*****************************************************************************RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: AN AMERICAN ICON IN OUTER-SPACE… AND AN AMERICAN ICON IN FENWAY PARK… MEET DURING WAR… AND BECOME LIFETIME FRIENDS. *****************************************************************************John Glenn… the world famous astronaut… and American politician… and Ted Williams the Boston Red Sox star… and one of the all-time greatest hitters in baseball history… met as jet pilots during the Korean War. Though so deeply different as human beings… they miraculously become adoring… lifetime friends after the war. This combination of absolute historical figures… and the incomprehensible relationship… built between these two men… in the furnace of war… in the deepest and most uncontrollable flames… of a daily… constant life and death struggle as jet pilots… is an absolute enticing… tantalizing… story-line subject… for a reader like myself. When I was growing up… baseball was all I lived and breathed for… and though… “Teddy-Ball-Game”… “The-Kid”… “The Splendid-Splinter’s”… heyday… was before my time… from the time I was eight-years-old… I read and studied every book on baseball history… from cover to cover. more
A truly outstanding book about two men whose lives could not have been more different. The bond they formed while serving in Korea carried over the rest of their lives. A great story. The lives that they led was truly interesting to follow. Two great heroes - one in the military and the other in sports. more
The Wingmen by Adam LazarusFascinating factual account of two famous men who became fast friends as Marine pilots during the Korean War. One of the reasons I was drawn to this book was that it reminded me of one of my maternal uncles telling me a few stories about his time as a soldier in Korea. Additionally, I wanted to find out what these two men, a professional baseball player and an astronaut, might have in common. The book was well researched, the writing flowed and was easy to read, and the men came to life on the page. I actually started a list of “similarities” and “differences” and realized that the main thing John Glenn and Ted Willams had in common was the trust and admiration that formed between the two men while flying missions together. more
Compelling narrative of the intertwined lives of two American icons and Marine Corps pilots, Ted Williams and John Glenn, wingmen in VMF-311 flying combat missions in the Korean War. Besides their shared service, each was incredibly competitive in his own way but had otherwise had little in common with the other. Williams, arguably baseball's greatest ever hitter, was a prickly narcissist. John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the earth and later a US senator, was a master sniveler. Nonetheless, there is a great deal to admire in both men and they maintained a cordial friendship for more than half a century, during both were monumental figures. more
A fun book about the lifelong friendship astronaut John Glenn and baseball great Ted Williams developed when they served together in the Korean War. The two men could not have been more different: Glenn was eternally faithful to his wife, while Williams cheated his way through three marriages. Glenn was religious and soft-spoken, while Williams was profane and could be something of a jerk. Glenn was eager to serve in Korea, while Williams was dragged kicking and screaming into it by the draft board. Their politics were often polar opposites. more
Thanks to NetGalley and Citadel for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. 3. 5 stars rounded upYou can't be a lifelong Red Sox fan and not be an admirer of Ted Williams, even if he retired before you were born. I requested this book partly because of Ted, mainly because of the friendship between these two American heroes, about which I knew little. more
I feel more genuinely American after reading this dual biography. I'm curious to know how the idea was formed to write about these two heroes. Before now, the name Ted Williams was familiar to me but I wouldn't have been able to say why. And John Glenn must have been in previous reading material about the space program, but I didn't remember him either. Now I feel like I know them both and can connect them to important moments in history. more
This was a very interesting book. I was totally unaware of the friendship between Ted Williams and John Glenn. I knew that Ted had served in both WWII and the Korean War as a marine aviator, but I did not know that his time in Korea was spent with John Glenn, the famous astronaut and later Senator from Ohio. In fact, Ted Williams served as John Glenn's wingman on many occasions, and they had some close calls together. They grew to really respect each other, both during the war and afterwards when they had settled back in peacetime life. more
Who knew that the greatest hitter in baseball-Ted Williams—and one of the Mercury 7 astronauts—John Glenn—were friends. I didn’t and, I suspect, neither did a lot of people. There are three stories in this book. Ted Williams and John Glenn each have their stories. The more interesting story is about their relationship in Korea as pilots in the Korean War. more
I believe this book is a story that needed to be told. I was very put off by the author’s continued use of sniveling when writing about John Glenn. I feel it was denigrating to John Glenn, any man who could be a combat fighter pilot and an early astronaut deserves better treatment. Promoting oneself is not offensive when backed up with superior performance. On the author’s treatment of Ted Williams’ sensitivity to criticism, I believe he downplayed it too much. more
I really enjoyed this book. First of all, I've had a long admiration of Ted Williams as a baseball player and military veteran. Second, enjoy reading books about WW2 and Korean War era. I learned some new things about Williams during this read and learned a lot more about John Glenn. The two were vastly different but connected by their time together in Korea in the 50s, and all their differences would be pushed aside when they were together. more
With Friendship, They Say Opposites AttractAstronaut-Senator John Glenn and baseball Hall-of-Famer Ted William were about as opposite as two people could be. Yet circumstance and chance brought them together and made obvious what they did share: a commitment to excellence bordering on perfectionism; patriotism, albeit from differing viewpoints; and the cockpits for warbirds, flying together in harm’s way. Both men have had plenty written about them, Williams for baseball and Glenn for high flight. In fact many of those books are so detailed, we almost know their bathroom routines. But this book is different - fast-paced, easily readable and, this is critical, it is personal, not between the heroes we know, but between the real, complex, sometime flawed humans we didn’t know as well. more
The title of the book tells the whole story. First, Glenn and Williams are two of my personal heroes so I have a bias here. While I think the story provides a good picture of the friendship of these two men, it is also difficult to accurately describe a friendship between two very busy, very different, very public figures. Due to their lives, they were not in a position to meet regularly so there is a limit to how many stories there can be. Either way, the author does an excellent job showing the ongoing connection with some good stories. more
Finished The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, the recent book by Adam Lazarus. I knew that Williams and Glenn both flew as Marine aviators in the Korean War but was unaware that they were in the same squadron. The book does a good job describing their very different lives and politics. Glenn was a Democrat who got his start in politics with the Kennedy’s and Ted was a lifelong Republican which made for some tense moments in their association but they were lifelong friends. Interesting book. more
See, the subtitle and the blurbs are misleading. The Wingmen isn't primarily about the friendship between Glenn and Williams. It's really a pair of biographies, primarily of their lives during and since the Korean war. (The war takes up something like 40 of the book - and with more detail about which particular bombs they dropped on which mission than I at least found interesting). The biographies do overlap here and there, and the book does report what seems to be pretty much every time they mentioned or interacted with each other. more
Easy purchase for someone like me who grew up in Boston, is a Red Sox fan, and also was a fighter pilot in the Air Force. I knew superficially that Glenn and Williams went to war together, but this book put the meat on those bones. I learned some things about both men that I never knew before, which made it worth the read for me. If you're a Red Sox fan or true baseball fan, I recommend. Same if you're a military aviation, Marine Corps, or space program fan. more
Wow, just wow. The astronaut and the out fielder although they were so much more than that. Heroes, men of principle, men of unstinting national pride. Willing to give up so much to move forward. Their friendship over decades was laudable. more
The title suggests this book is about the friendship between Ted Williams and John Glenn. In reality, the books examines the fighter pilots and their roles in the Korean War. I read about one third of the book before the author tells about the connection between the 2 famous men. There are quite a few details with facts about fighting in the war, but not enough information about their unlikely friendship. more
Excellent book. Ted Williams was a genuine character and a superb stick (fighter pilot). He was also shady and a real womanizer, in other words pretty human. John Glenn was a better stick and a superb pilot. He was also a faithful husband and a bit of a straight arrow. more
Solid book overall. Their relationship was a remarkable one, and this is a super fair, objective exploration of how two men, different in every way possible, influenced each other and the world. For me, Ted Williams has been a lifelong hero. I still keep a photo of him hung up on the wall. After reading this, that photo’s place in my home feels more complicated, but I’ll take solace in knowing that John Glenn thought highly enough of Ted to keep a relationship with him until his death. more
A good book to read if you're a fan of John Glenn or Ted Williams. I'm not much of a baseball fan but I thought this was a normal nonfiction book on the subject. It was an interesting read but the 'unbreakable friendship' part seemed far-fetched especially since there friendship blossomed after approximately 8 sorties and Ted didn't even vote for John when he ran for office because he was a Democrat. A lot of good detail about their lives though. more
Terrific readThoroughly enjoyed this book. Being an avid baseball fan I had a pretty good idea of what Ted Williams was about. I knew of John Glenn of course but not that much about him. This book weaves their story seamlessly . They were totally different but the similar at the same time. more
Parts were very interesting and fast paced. Other parts were a challenge to read. Somewhat boring to me. To write of both men’s deaths wasn’t necessary. To write two whole chapters about each man’s run up to death and a lot about Ted Williams place after death. more
Not what I'd hoped for. Somehow the usual, unlikely, unbreakable friendship doesn't come across as such. More like a pen pal relationship dropped in and out of by both men. But their is a sense of comradeship that is common amongst combat vets and the stories of both men's intertwined lives makes for reasonably good reading. more