On January 27, 1943, nineteen-year-old Dick Harper received orders to report to

Miami Beach, Florida, to begin Aviation Cadet training, with the lofty goal of

becoming a combat pilot in the United States Army Air Corps. Hes leaving the

security of his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina for strange, unknown

places and an uncertain future, with the ultimate purpose of fighting a war.

It was a huge turning point in his life.

Harper's Retrospective

In The Cream, Harper offers a retrospective of his personal experiences

in Aviation Cadet training during World War II. He details his odyssey

as he travels from a small Southern town and experiences the dangerous

and exciting days and months of pilot training. He shares the disappointments

and triumphs, humor and pathos, of his quest for the coveted Silver Wings of a

combat pilot. He provides a frontline, inside view, of the rigors and exhilaration

of this training.

A Memoir of Aspirations and Camaraderie

A memoir, The Cream narrates the hopes, frustrations, camaraderie, and

ideals of the young men who earned, or attempted to earn, Silver Wings as pilots

in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.