Elmer Bendiner

Elmer Bendiner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1916.
Following the death of his father his family moved to New York
City, where he spent much of his adolescence. He worked as a
reporter, married in October, 1941, and, one week after the attack
on Pearl Harbor, enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He served as
navigator on Tondelayo, a B-17 ‘Flying Fortress’ and was awarded
the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air
Medal with three oak-leaf clusters. After the war he worked as a
journalist and author. Published books include A Time for
Angels: The Tragicomic History of the League of Nations, The
Virgin Diplomats, a chronicle of diplomacy during the American
Revolution, The Rise and Fall of Paradise: When Arabs and Jews
Built a Kingdom in Spain and The Fall of Fortresses. Elmer and
Esther were married for sixty years. They had two daughters,
Winifred and Jessica. He died on September 16, 2001.