Preface: springtime in America -- The Seventy-Eighth Fighter Squadron -- The first night in Hell -- A graveyard for bombers and the need for Iwo Jima -- Assessing the threat -- Hell rains from the skies -- The Chichi Jima problem: the last impediment for the fighters -- Hitting Chichi Jima -- In the mind of the enemy -- Prelude to a massacre -- Massacre of the night fighters -- Jerry hopes for a chance -- The rain; and news; breaks -- On to Japan -- The Second Empire mission and the death of a president -- Baseball, softball, and the southern boy from Clemson -- The raid on Osaka -- Five hours over Chichi Jima -- Heartbreak over Tokyo -- The blazing winds of August -- Jerry hears the news -- The enemy stalls -- Over Tokyo -- Epilogue: the final salute.