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Author: Danielle Dufresne
Publisher: Pierre Turcotte Editor
ISBN: 2925437176
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 73
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Book Description
In April 1942, when the 18-year-old volunteer soldier Émilien Dufresne set sail from Halifax, Canada to cross over to England, the Battle of the Atlantic raged on. The 72 ships had to form convoys to face the sea infested by the dreaded German U-boat submarines. 1943, The Overlord project – the Normandy landings – occupied all the training and learning of young Émilien, who became increasingly aware of the danger that awaited him and his companions. Covered in water up to his shoulders, rifle raised high, his life hung by a thread. He advanced bravely and vigilantly, avoiding underwater mines, while hundreds of his comrades swirled around him. On the night of June 6-7, 1944, following the success of his mission on the Normandy coast in France, he was captured by the Germans. The relentless pace of forced labor began. What the Allies destroyed during the day had to be rebuilt at night. A long, painful, and incomprehensible march through bombarded Germany and Poland commenced. A convoy of thousands of wounded who lacked care and sustenance had to beware of fierce guards and too often helplessly witness the execution of their fellow sufferers. The more the bombardments intensified, the more Émilien felt the hope of victory that had kept him alive for nearly four years. On April 9, 1945, the Americans had arrived; they liberated the camp. Ten long months of wondering every day – Is today the last day? Émilien celebrated life and liberation.
Author: Danielle Dufresne
Publisher: Pierre Turcotte Editor
ISBN: 2925437176
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 73
Get Book Here
Book Description
In April 1942, when the 18-year-old volunteer soldier Émilien Dufresne set sail from Halifax, Canada to cross over to England, the Battle of the Atlantic raged on. The 72 ships had to form convoys to face the sea infested by the dreaded German U-boat submarines. 1943, The Overlord project – the Normandy landings – occupied all the training and learning of young Émilien, who became increasingly aware of the danger that awaited him and his companions. Covered in water up to his shoulders, rifle raised high, his life hung by a thread. He advanced bravely and vigilantly, avoiding underwater mines, while hundreds of his comrades swirled around him. On the night of June 6-7, 1944, following the success of his mission on the Normandy coast in France, he was captured by the Germans. The relentless pace of forced labor began. What the Allies destroyed during the day had to be rebuilt at night. A long, painful, and incomprehensible march through bombarded Germany and Poland commenced. A convoy of thousands of wounded who lacked care and sustenance had to beware of fierce guards and too often helplessly witness the execution of their fellow sufferers. The more the bombardments intensified, the more Émilien felt the hope of victory that had kept him alive for nearly four years. On April 9, 1945, the Americans had arrived; they liberated the camp. Ten long months of wondering every day – Is today the last day? Émilien celebrated life and liberation.
Author: Émilien DuFresne
Publisher: Pierre Turcotte Editor
ISBN: 9782925437185
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
In April 1942, when the 18-year-old volunteer soldier Émilien Dufresne set sail from Halifax, Canada to cross over to England, the Battle of the Atlantic raged on. The 72 ships had to form convoys to face the sea infested by the dreaded German U-boat submarines. 1943, The Overlord project - the Normandy landings - occupied all the training and learning of young Émilien, who became increasingly aware of the danger that awaited him and his companions. Covered in water up to his shoulders, rifle raised high, his life hung by a thread. He advanced bravely and vigilantly, avoiding underwater mines, while hundreds of his comrades swirled around him. On the night of June 6-7, 1944, following the success of his mission on the Normandy coast in France, he was captured by the Germans. The relentless pace of forced labor began. What the Allies destroyed during the day had to be rebuilt at night. A long, painful, and incomprehensible march through bombarded Germany and Poland commenced. A convoy of thousands of wounded who lacked care and sustenance had to beware of fierce guards and too often helplessly witness the execution of their fellow sufferers. The more the bombardments intensified, the more Émilien felt the hope of victory that had kept him alive for nearly four years. On April 9, 1945, the Americans had arrived; they liberated the camp. Ten long months of wondering every day - Is today the last day? Émilien celebrated life and liberation.
Author: Henry Langrehr
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063027445
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
Published to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, an unforgettable never-before-told first-person account of World War II: the true story of an American paratrooper who survived D-Day, was captured and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp, and made a daring escape to freedom. Now at 95, one of the few living members of the Greatest Generation shares his experiences at last in one of the most remarkable World War II stories ever told. As the Allied Invasion of Normandy launched in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, Henry Langrehr, an American paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, was among the thousands of Allies who parachuted into occupied France. Surviving heavy anti-aircraft fire, he crashed through the glass roof of a greenhouse in Sainte-Mère-Église. While many of the soldiers in his unit died, Henry and other surviving troops valiantly battled enemy tanks to a standstill. Then, on June 29th, Henry was captured by the Nazis. The next phase of his incredible journey was beginning. Kept for a week in the outer ring of a death camp, Henry witnessed the Nazis’ unspeakable brutality—the so-called Final Solution, with people marched to their deaths, their bodies discarded like cords of wood. Transported to a work camp, he endured horrors of his own when he was forced to live in unbelievable squalor and labor in a coal mine with other POWs. Knowing they would be worked to death, he and a friend made a desperate escape. When a German soldier cornered them in a barn, the friend was fatally shot; Henry struggled with the soldier, killing him and taking his gun. Perilously traveling westward toward Allied controlled land on foot, Henry faced the great ethical and moral dilemmas of war firsthand, needing to do whatever it took to survive. Finally, after two weeks behind enemy lines, he found an American unit and was rescued. Awaiting him at home was Arlene, who, like millions of other American women, went to work in factories and offices to build the armaments Henry and the Allies needed for victory. Whatever It Took is her story, too, bringing to life the hopes and fears of those on the homefront awaiting their loved ones to return. A tale of heroism, hope, and survival featuring 30 photographs, Whatever It Took is a timely reminder of the human cost of freedom and a tribute to unbreakable human courage and spirit in the darkest of times.
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1400064163
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 497
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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: 2014’s Unbroken and the upcoming Unbroken: Path to Redemption. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. Praise for Unbroken “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York “Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review “Marvelous . . . Unbroken is wonderful twice over, for the tale it tells and for the way it’s told. . . . It manages maximum velocity with no loss of subtlety.”—Newsweek “Moving and, yes, inspirational . . . [Laura] Hillenbrand’s unforgettable book . . . deserve[s] pride of place alongside the best works of literature that chart the complications and the hard-won triumphs of so-called ordinary Americans and their extraordinary time.”—Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air “Hillenbrand . . . tells [this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time “Unbroken is too much book to hope for: a hellride of a story in the grip of the one writer who can handle it.”—Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run
Author: Michael Vaal
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781442163447
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 156
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Book Description
If home is truly where the heart is, then home to the Vaal family was always about being together. In Find A Way Home, Michael Vaal captures the emotion, longing and fear of his devoted family separated by the perils of war. Franciscus and Maria Vaal had already lived through one war and years of enemy occupation, and were united in their determination to keep their family together in the uncertain days of World War II. Michael was only an infant when Maria packed up the couple's five young boys and set off from war-torn Belgium to join Franciscus, who was desperately fighting for the Belgian Army alongside the Allies in the final stronghold of France. Neither Maria nor Franciscus could have foreseen the chaos into which their family's lives would be flung. Told with humor, poignancy and loving appreciation for the lessons he learned from within the heart of his family, Michael's story reminds us all of the true meaning of home.
Author: Mary Lang
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781719876681
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 110
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Book Description
He survived the Battle of the Bulge but was eventually captured by the Nazis and imprisoned until he was near death. Though he was able to escape with two comrades, the horrors of war would live within him and influence his life. In his 91 years, Billy Lang left an indelible mark on everyone he encountered. His love and friendship with God helped him through all the trials in his life, especially in the face of the evil he encountered on the battlefield and in the Nazi prison camp. Twelve children, 73 grand- and great grand-children were his lasting legacy, and the love of his life whom he was married to for 67 years helped him face the demons from his war experiences.
Author: Kazuo Odachi
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462921493
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 253
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Book Description
**Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) Winner** An incredible, untold story of survival and acceptance that sheds light on one of the darkest chapters in Japanese history. This book tells the story of Kazuo Odachi who--in 1943, when he was just 16 years-old--joined the Imperial Japanese Navy to become a pilot. A year later, he was unknowingly assigned to the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps--a group of airmen whose mission was to sacrifice their lives by crashing planes into enemy ships. Their callsign was "ten dead, zero alive." By picking up Memoirs of a Kamikaze, readers will experience the hardships of fighter pilot training--dipping and diving and watching as other trainees crash into nearby mountainsides. They'll witness the psychological trauma of coming to terms with death before each mission, and breathe a sigh of relief with Odachi when his last mission is cut short by Japan's eventual surrender. They'll feel the anger at a government and society that swept so much of the sacrifice under the rug in its desperation to rebuild. Odachi's innate "samurai spirit" carried him through childhood, WWII and his eventual life as a kendo instructor, police officer and detective. His attention to detail, unwavering self-discipline and impenetrably strong mind were often the difference between life and death. Odachi, who is now well into his nineties, kept his Kamikaze past a secret for most of his life. Seven decades later, he agreed to sit for nearly seventy hours of interviews with the authors of this book--who know Odachi personally. He felt it was his responsibility to finally reveal the truth about the Kamikaze pilots: that they were unsuspecting teenagers and young men asked to do the bidding of superior officers who were never held to account. This book offers a new perspective on these infamous suicide pilots. It is not a chronicle of war, nor is it a collection of research papers compiled by scholars. It is a transcript of Odachi's words.
Author: George Wilson
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307775259
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294
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Book Description
"If you survive your first day, I'll promote you." So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy -- and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled. From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building. Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life -- and his emotions. If You Survive One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II.
Author: Sid Shachnow
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0765389150
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 611
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Book Description
Hope and Honor is a powerful and dramatic memoir that shows how the will to live—so painfully refined in the fires of that long-ago death camp—was forged, at last, into truth of soul and wisdom of the heart. Major General Sid Shachnow was more than a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran—receiving two silver and three bronze stars with V for Valor. He survived a crucible far crueler than the jungles of Vietnam: Nazi occupied Eastern Europe. As a child, he spent three years in the notorious Kovno Concentration Camp. But his next journey took him to America, where he worked his way through school and eventually enlisted in the US Army. He volunteered for U.S. Special Forces, and served proudly for 32 years. His driving dream was to save others from the indignities he had endured and the deadly fate he so narrowly escaped. From Vietnam to the Mideast, to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sid Shachow served in Special Operations. He grew as Special Forces grew, rising to major-general—responsible for American Special Forces everywhere—but the lessons of Kovno stayed with him, wherever he turned, wherever he soldiered. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Author: Molly Guptill Manning
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544535170
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315
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Book Description
This New York Times bestselling account of books parachuted to soldiers during WWII is a “cultural history that does much to explain modern America” (USA Today). When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned 100 million books. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops, gathering 20 million hardcover donations. Two years later, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million specially printed paperbacks designed for troops to carry in their pockets and rucksacks in every theater of war. These small, lightweight Armed Services Editions were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy, in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific, in field hospitals, and on long bombing flights. This pioneering project not only listed soldiers’ spirits, but also helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity and made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. “A thoroughly engaging, enlightening, and often uplifting account . . . I was enthralled and moved.” — Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried “Whether or not you’re a book lover, you’ll be moved.” — Entertainment Weekly
