Category: Wings of Denial

April 19, 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. In connection with the anniversary, NewSouth Books has reissued Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard’s Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs by Warren Trest and Don Dodd. Told within the larger story of bureaucratic bungling and indecision at the highest levels in Washington, Wings of Denial is a tribute to a group of unsung Alabama heroes — Air National Guard volunteers who trained the Cuban freedom fighters and then flew into combat in a desperate attempt to save them when the CIA-backed invasion failed. Four of the guardsmen made the ultimate sacrifice, a closely guarded secret these many years. This is their story …

Bay of Pigs veteran Joe Shannon of Birmingham, who died on January 5, was rememberd in an Associated Press article carried by the Montgomery Advertiser and MSNBC.com. According to the story, Shannon was “one of the few surviving American pilots who participated in the failed invasion of Cuba in 1961” …