The Last Mission

The Last Mission is a 1979 young adult novel by American author Harry Mazer. Set during World War II, the novel follows fifteen-year-old Jack Raab as he lies about his age to enlist in the Air Force and fly bombing missions over Germany. Jack shares a number of biographical details with his author, who was also born in the Bronx, flew bombing missions during the War (earning a Purple Heart and an Air Medal), and was shot down over Czechoslovakia.

It is 1944 and Jack Raab, a Jewish boy from the Bronx, is in Louisiana training to fly a B-17. He is a little surprised that he is still here because Jack is fifteen. Desperate to take on Hitler, Jack used his older brother’s birth certificate to join the Air Force. He is big for his age (over six feet), but he is very aware of the gap in experience and attitudes between him and the older men of his crew. There are also some telltale signs he is worried the other airmen might pick up on: Jack is a runaway, so he never gets mail from his family. While the other men go home on furlough, Jack visits Dotty, a girl he met during basic training in Miami Beach.

When their training is over, Jack’s crew is sent to England. A crewmember named Pratt has just had a baby daughter, and he appoints all the crew honorary godfathers. When the crew flies out for the first time, they name their plane Godfathers, Inc. Their first mission is nervy but successful. Things quickly get more difficult. Jack, as a door gunner, is exposed to flak. On one mission, he is nearly castrated by flying shrapnel. On another mission, the plane loses an engine over Germany and pilot Martin is forced to land in the English Channel. The crew floats in the sea until rescue arrives.



When the crew has flown thirty-five missions, they will be allowed to return home. At twenty, a nervy countdown begins.

Soon after Jack turns sixteen, the crew and their new plane—Godfather II—are sent on their last mission, to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. They are following a lead plane that fails to release its bombs. In order to hit their target, Jack’s crew is forced to turn back and take a second run. The plane is hit by flak and the crew has to abandon it. As Jack parachutes to the ground, he sees another crewmember hit by flak and killed. He makes it safely to earth and flees.

After days on the run, he is captured and sent to a military base where he is imprisoned with other Allied soldiers. From the base, the soldiers are taken to a hospital, where they receive treatment for their wounds. Jack befriends another American soldier, Stan. Jack, Stan, and their fellow prisoners are marched to a prison camp, where they are abandoned by their German captors, who are fleeing the Russian advance. The next day, Jack and Stan learn that the War is over. Hitler is dead. They return to the American lines. As they pass through Germany, they learn the true costs of war: civilians massacred, starved to death, or bombed, some of them, perhaps, by Jack and his crew.



Jack returns to his airbase, where he learns that all his crewmates died on the mission. He is sent back to America. For the first time since running away to join up, he contacts his family. Relieved that he is still alive, they beg him to come home. Confessing his real age to the Air Force, he is honorably discharged.

Released from his service, Jack’s first priority is to visit the parents of the crewmember he saw die to assure them that their son didn’t suffer. He visits Dotty and tells her the truth about his age, ending their relationship. When the summer is over, he returns to school, where he is asked to speak to his fellow students about the war. He tells them that war is awful, and he hopes there will never be another one.

Jack begins the novel as a teenage boy who idealizes warfare, but he ends The Last Mission having learned firsthand that there is nothing glamorous or honorable about fighting. Along the way, the novel explores the value of comradeship and fills young readers in on the fear, horror, and excitement experienced by active servicemen during World War II. The novel was generally well received, with many reviewers noting that Mazer’s first-hand experience of air combat authenticates the story, making the novel’s combat scenes powerful and visceral. Mazer does not sugarcoat the violent deaths of Jack’s friends. However, some reviewers noted that the novel suffers from too close an adherence to YA conventions: “The occasional simplistic conversations and too-explicit statements of themes are reminders that this is a second-hand literary experience” (Kirkus Reviews).