On January 27, 1943, nineteen-year-old Dick Harper received orders to report toMiami Beach, Florida, to begin Aviation Cadet training, with the lofty goal ofbecoming a combat pilot in the United States Army Air Corps. Hes leaving thesecurity of his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina for strange, unknownplaces and an uncertain future, with the ultimate purpose of fighting a war.It was a huge turning point in his life.In The Cream, Harper offers a retrospective of his personal experiencesin Aviation Cadet training during World War II. He details his odysseyas he travels from a small Southern town and experiences the dangerousand exciting days and months of pilot training. He shares the disappointmentsand triumphs, humor and pathos, of his quest for the coveted Silver Wings of acombat pilot. He provides a frontline, inside view, of the rigors and exhilarationof this training.A memoir, The Cream narrates the hopes, frustrations, camaraderie, andideals of the young men who earned, or attempted to earn, Silver Wings as pilotsin the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

On January 27, 1943, nineteen-year-old Dick Harper received orders to report toMiami Beach, Florida, to begin Aviation Cadet training, with the lofty goal ofbecoming a combat pilot in the United States Army Air Corps. Hes leaving thesecurity of his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina for strange, unknownplaces and an uncertain future, with the ultimate purpose of fighting a war.It was a huge turning point in his life.In The Cream, Harper offers a retrospective of his personal experiencesin Aviation Cadet training during World War II. He details his odysseyas he travels from a small Southern town and experiences the dangerousand exciting days and months of pilot training. He shares the disappointmentsand triumphs, humor and pathos, of his quest for the coveted Silver Wings of acombat pilot. He provides a frontline, inside view, of the rigors and exhilarationof this training.A memoir, The Cream narrates the hopes, frustrations, camaraderie, andideals of the young men who earned, or attempted to earn, Silver Wings as pilotsin the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.