Loden Books

The Oranges are Sweet
By Paul M. Sailer

Welcome to the website for The Oranges are Sweet, a book about Major Don M. Beerbower and the 353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group.

Critical reviews

“[The Oranges are Sweet] is really a fine work . . . Beerbower’s story is little known, and deserves great publicity. Paul Sailer has done an amazing job, obviously one that is a labor of love for him, in bringing together so many sources, in weaving them together into a compelling tale that illuminates life in Minnesota in the pre-war period, for those in the service being shipped out, and for those in the terror of combat. He combines clear, accurate writing with wonderful diary entries, letters, and personal remembrances and a series of photographs to help bring to life the story he is recounting.” Charles M. Dobbs, Ph.D., Professor, Department of History, Iowa State University

“More than six decades after the end of World War II there are dozens of books about the war published every year. . . . Paul M. Sailer’s The Oranges are Sweet is different. It is the story of Don Beerbower, the leading ace of the Ninth Air Force, his boyhood, his training as a pilot, his months of combat, and his death. . . . The experience of men flying in combat has been put together by Sailer from scholarly works, memoirs, the letters home of Beerbower and his comrades, and by the interviews and correspondence with the survivors. It is a masterful job of research, giving us not only the ‘big picture’ but the small moments and the little details that recreate the lived experience of these fliers. That experience is put into the larger context aided by a series of very clear maps.” Roland Dille, Ph.D., President emeritus, Minnesota State University, Moorhead

Award

Paul Sailer named Writer of the Year by the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame (MAHF)

“At the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame annual banquet in Bloomington on Saturday evening, April 28, Wadena author Paul Sailer received the 2012 Aviation Writer of the Year award for The Oranges are Sweet. Chairman Tom Schellinger, a retired Northwest Airlines captain, said of Sailer’s book about Minnesota’s highest scoring fighter pilot in World War II with 18 ½ aerial and ground victories, “The Oranges are Sweet is a wonderful reliving of the life of Major Don M. Beerbower. . . . It goes far beyond the combat aspect of the war and delves into the human aspect of just what goes into making a true patriot.”

“The Oranges are Sweet is a long overdue book detailing the youth and combat career of Minnesota’s most important air ace, Major Don M. Beerbower,” said MAHF executive director Noel Allard. “This book is well written and colorfully illustrated and claims an important place on any WW II historian’s bookshelf.” Park Rapids Enterprise, February 4, 2012

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