The Sun Does Not Rise in the East

The Sun Does Not Rise in the East is the autobiography of Billy Rees – veteran of World War II. I drowned at age six, was in a car wreck that turned over three times and was left on the side of the road as dead. Two days later, I came out of a coma with one ear torn off. I almost killed my sister. I threw up on my instructor’s neck during my first flying lesson. I made an airplane fly backwards over Jonesboro, AR. The airplane which I learned to fly in 1940 was a 50 HP Piper Cub with no brakes, no radio, and I had to spin the propellers by hand to start it. In 1941, I graduated from Arkansas State College with a BS degree and a private pilot’s license. I studied celestial air navigation at the University of Miami and took training flights with Pan American Airlines. Pearl Harbor occurred while there, starting World War II. I graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant and became an instructor at Hondo Air Force Base, Texas. I crash-landed a plane in Detroit and the photo is in a book, We’ll Find the Way. I was in a tornado that killed 45 people. I flew around the world 50 times, bringing back Rhesus monkeys for the polio vaccine. The head of an Indian was cut off by airplane propellers in Bombay, India. I made 5 trips to the North Pole, taking personnel to the DEW line (a radar screen between Russia and US). I have owned 2 nightclubs, 2 liquor stores, 2 restaurants, 1 theater, 1 pool hall, 1 beer lounge (lessee put a gun in his mouth and killed himself). I was in VA hospital for 6 months and almost didn’t survive. I lost 50 pounds. I owned 19 new Cadillacs and 4 motorcycles. I flew as navigator for Seaboard World Airlines, which became Flying Tigers, which became Federal Express. I am retired at age 87 in good health.