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‘Young Man - You’ll Never Die’
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
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‘Young Man - You’ll Never Die’
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Summary
Merton Naydler joined the RAF at the age of 19 and served for the next six years until May 1946. He flew Spitfires and Hurricanes during a tour of duty that took him to North Africa, Burma, and Malaya. This extremely entertaining memoir portrays wartime life in the desert environment where sand and flies and life under canvas made living and flying a daunting experience.
When the author was posted to Burma he was filled with "a deep and genuine dread." After a long uncomfortable trip, he joined 11 Squadron and was now faced with Japanese Zeroes in combat over dense tropical jungle rather than Bf 109s over a barren desert terrain. "Daytime flying was hot as hell, the humidity intense"- the author's description of his new posting that goes on to describe life in "Death Valley", named because of the likeliness of falling victim to tropical disease rather than enemy aircraft. This is the story of a sergeant pilot who learned his trade the hard way, in action over Africa and then honed his combat skills in the skies over Japanese-held tropical forests where he was eventually commissioned.
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What listeners say about ‘Young Man - You’ll Never Die’
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- David
- 12-12-23
WW2 generation had amazing lives
I was expecting lots of details about air to air combat but that’s not the main theme of this book - and that’s not a criticism.
It’s about his life and experiences during WW2 from signing up through to VJ Day. Starting in England, moving to North Africa, Sicily, Middle East and the Far East.
There are examples and descriptions of missions, including bombing Japanese forces using a Hurricane.
It would have been interesting had it been a wee bit longer to include what happened to the author after being de-mobbed through to the time of writing of the book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MR JOHN CALDER
- 06-05-23
Fascinating Account
A true member of the greatest generation tells his story, a great account of a charmed laugh.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alexandra Bancroft
- 08-06-23
Beautifully written and keenly observed
This is a very good book, almost poetic in parts. It follows the war time career of a fighter pilot around the tropics. Never glorifying war, but with sufficient action and detail to satisfy any ardent student of the world’s largest conflict.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-11-23
Passionate observation
Wonderfully familiar conversation from the memories of a smart young man of the mid 20th century. Honest, humorous, succinct.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ian Smith
- 31-05-23
Really interesting memoir
This memoir painted a rather different picture of service life from the more usual "ace pilot" stories. I learned a lot about the realities of the pilot's experience of training, waiting in one or other camp for posting orders, the dreadful conditions endured in front-line airfields and the nature of their operational flying, and how the pilots kept themselves entertained. Merton wasn't a fighter pilot who got a high "score", but one of the many who flew many missions without engaging in aerial combat, but in a lot of ground attack roles. He came across as insightful, thoughtful and at times rather philosphical.
The narrator was mostly good, making the work sound like the reminiscences of a man looking back in time to an earlier, well-remembered, phase of his life. But he has some very quirky personal pronunciations, which I found distracting: "levver" rather than "lever", "war-rior" rather than "warrior", and "say-lon" for "Ceylon". No doubt other place-names were similarly mangled. He also pronounced the "bow" in "bow wave" as if it were an archery bow rather than something a performer would do to acknowledge applause.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Terri
- 27-08-20
Interesting book not what I expected
Not quite sure what was wrong with the narrator. He seemed to trip up over the most simple words .A bit like Dick Van Dyke trying to do a cockney accent. I looked him up Wikipedia says he is a voice actor . He should think seriously about another profession .Having said that it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book.... which I loved .Its not an action packed war hero type story but an honest and thoughtful one.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ivan
- 12-10-22
A very interesting story.
As others have said this is a very different type of book.
My uncle was almost certainly one of his contemporaries in the desert doing the same job. So it was interesting to hear what he was probably thinking too and what life in the desert was like for Sqadron Pilots.
My Father and Father in law were both in Burma until the end and may have been on that same Sunderland with him. It goes a long way to explains certain character traits I recognise as common to those who came home damaged men and had to rebuild their lives when they had known nothing but death and kill or be killed.
The narrator obviously had instructions to pronounce things for the American Market which is a shame for such a British story. Just let the anachronisms wash over you and enjoy a very thoughtful book.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 17-05-23
Different kind of war memories
Interesting insight into living in war zone, Africa and Asia front. Narrator was really good.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Norman Cullender
- 09-08-23
A true insight to the realities of wartime life
Found this book truly fascinating. Written in a way that seems to draw you in to one mans life. From a teenager to a man with so many stories. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book. Excellent. Like no other I have read in this genre.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Seb Gibson
- 10-05-19
Heart breaking, horrifying and wonderful
These war memoirs are bound to stir you, especially when read by Roger Clark. Magnificent! It tells the story of a young man who joined the RAF during the second world war as a fighter pilot, and struggles with his 'exile' to the deserts of North Africa, the deadly jungles of Burma, the death of his comrades, and his eventual return to civilian life. All the while, a whispering voice in his ear tells him "Young man, you'll never die".
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