The Simple Sounds Of Freedom

[Stephende]

"The Simple Sounds of Freedom" tells the true story of an American POW who escaped and joined the Red Army near the Oder. He fought with the Red Army until he was severely wounded. He survived the War and is alive today. This book was just published. He was featured on C-SPAN promoting the book. And yes, he was awarded and received his Soviet medals.

Amazing story.

[Tal Inbar]

Hardcover: 336 pages ; Publisher: Random House;
ISBN: 0375507868; (September 17, 2002)

[otlichnik]

Interesting. Looks like a must read.

If he joined the Red Army on the Oder it must have been rather late - March-April 1945?

If you have a copy, does it say which Soviet unit he joined?

Shawn

[Stephende]

I have not had a chance to read the book. I was able to watch the C-SPAN show. It featured both the author and the subject of the book speaking.

I will try to summarize what he said about his story.

He was parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. He ended up a POW. Having tried to escape several times, he was loaded onto a train and sent East. Escaping again, he headed further East - towards the sounds of artillery.
When he first encountered the Red Army they told him (English speaking comisar) that there was a processing center for liberated POWs that he would be sent to. His reply (this is a rough paraphrase, as I am doing this from memory) was that he had come to fight the Germans, not run away from them. (At this point the entire audience stood up and applauded with tears in their eyes - as did most of us at home - The Greatest Generation! ). The Russians must have been either impressed or thought he was plain nuts - in any case, he ended up in the unit.

As to the ultimate outcome of the unit he joined -
His son is a Russian expert (not sure of his actual job) living in Moscow. He has been in the military archives and has verified that the unit was pretty much wiped out during the final push to Berlin. He is still trying to research individual commanders - the unit leader was a woman major - her fate is still uncertain.

[Mozzabloke]

Got the book on friday and read it in 2 days its that good.

Cant recomend it enough Someone should make a film about this.

Mark