 Taking over the family farm in 1959, it would be another 11 years before Freeman could finish his book, a task in which he was assisted by his wife, Jean, whom he married in 1956.In 1970, just before the book began its first print-run in the US, the publishers asked if Freeman would change its long title to something more succinct.He decided on "The Mighty Eighth", a term widely used since and even adopted by the post-war US Eighth Air Force during its association with Strategic Air Command.