A John Steinbeck story titled “With Your Wings” will be published Friday in The Strand magazine, 70 years after the Of Mice and Men author read it in a radio broadcast that until now was thought to be undocumented and unrecorded.
The quarterly journal’s managing editor recently found a transcript of the story while going through the University of Texas at Austin’s archives.
“With Your Wings” tells the story of a black WWII pilot who returns home after training feeling out of place and apprehensive. When his father sees the silver wings pinned to his chest, he expresses how meaningful his service will be at a time when the U.S. Army was still segregated. “‘Son,” he says, “every black man in the world is going to fly with your wings.”
[AP]
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