June 6, 1944: The Greatest Moment of the Greatest Generation

Tuesday, June 6, 1944. It was perhaps the greatest moment of the greatest generation. The weather was miserable. It had been rainy and windy off and on for days, and when it wasn't raining, it was gloomy and overcast. Weather reports at the time said the weather was more akin to Fall than the Summer. However, there was expected to be a brief break. It wouldn't be much of one. It would still be overcast and the waters choppy, but the rain would stop and the wind over Northern France would be relatively calm. The invasion had already been postponed once because of the weather. The next anticipated break wouldn't in until early July at best.

Meanwhile, there were some 156,000 men ready to go. Many had already been loaded onto ships three days prior. The majority of them were seasick from the choppy water rocking the ships back and forth and up and down. At the same times, planes---bombers, fighters and transports---sat on the ground; fueled, armed, and awaiting their green light to load up and go. Scattered at sites all over England millions more waited for the order to go. Some were civilian while others were military; reserve and auxiliary, both men and women. They were on ships, at airfields, sitting in radar, communication, or command stations, air raid and observation outposts which scanned the skies looking for any hint that the Germans might preempt the pending invasion. The tension was palpable. It was like thousands of rubber bands twisted to the breaking point just waiting to be released. This was Operation Overlord, the code-name for the invasion of France by the Allies. Some 15 nations were taking part in this, the largest invasion ever attempted in history.

Just across the English Channel lay France. On a clear day, you could just make out its shores. But these weren't welcoming shores awaiting its liberators. These shores were the first visible signs of Hitler's Fortress Europe, and the soldiers behind its more than ample fortifications knew the Allies were coming; they had for many months and they were waiting.

Waiting for the Allied troops on those not-so-distant shores was sixty combat divisions, which made up approximately 850,000 German troops and ten panzer divisions. including the famous 21st Panzer Division which was one of the two divisions which made up the Afrika Korp. This was Fortress Europe, designed by Organization Todt starting in 1940 with the Fall of France, using thousands of mostly forced labor alongside highly skilled German engineers, craftsmen, and builders.

Fortress Europe ("Festung Europa" in German) was the name given to the Atlantic Wall; a vast series of massive gun emplacements housed near impenetrable bunkers, observation posts, miles of barbwire and an estimated six million landmines were laid along the beaches and roads near Normandy, angled and sharpen telephone poles like giant pongee sticks designed to destroy gliders and other aircraft (nicknamed "Rommel's asparagus"), and 200,000 steel barriers made up of railroad tracks all along the beaches, designed to be hidden at high tide and would ripe the bottoms of landing craft open like a can of sardines. In addition, there was a myriad of concrete enforced trenches and underground rail lines to quickly move men, ammunition, and other material. Beyond that were numerous barracks and other fortifications, often camouflaged as haystacks, barns or houses. Lastly was overlapping communication lines.

The Atlantic Wall itself ran from Brittany in far Western France all along the Northern coastline to include Belgium and Holland. In addition, German troops had fortified the coastlines of Denmark and Norway. This truly was a "Festung Europa". As an interesting aside, German troops had painted in minute detail everything within view from their gun emplacement on the inside walls of their bunkers right down to every bush. If something appeared which wasn't on that permanent map, it was destroyed.

So, what do you do when the enemy knows you're coming? You distract them, and that's exactly what the Allies did months ahead of the planned invasion (code-named "Operation Fortitude). The Allies used everything trick in the book, and then some, to make the Germans believe, not that there would be no invasion, but that the invasion would take place several miles away, at the Pas de Calais. What was significant about this particular area is that it's the closest point between France and the UK. It's also where Hitler had previously considered invading England from. Thus, the Allies played on Hitler's ego by convincing him that his idea for using Calais was the correct one.

The Allies did everything from planting false plans, notes, and letters on individuals (and even once used a corpse) knowing that they would be intercepted by the Germans which would only fed their preconceived notions. Meanwhile, unknown to German intelligence, all of the spies had been captured. Many were "convinced" to work for the British, and thus would send false reports back to Berlin. The Allies even built up an entire fake army around General George Patton, whom the Germans believed was the best Allied general and the man most likely to lead an invasion. They even created inflatable planes, trucks, tanks, and false radio traffic for the Germans to monitor. On top of this was around the clock bombing by US and British bombers.

Just prior to the invasion, the Allies stepped up their bombing campaign over France to further weaken the Germans. Finally, after months of planning, delays, setbacks, and mounting pressure from Stalin, it was decided by overall Allied Commander, General Dwight D Eisenhower and his generals, composed of senior Allied officers, late in the evening on June 5th to go the next morning. The invasion was on. In private, Eisenhower composed two messages fir broadcast. The first to announce the success of the landing. The second for its all too real potential failure.

The Allies amassed the greatest armada of ships the world had ever seen. Some 5,333 ships and landing crafts were prepared to sail. Ahead of the land assault was the aerial assault by approximately 23, 400 US paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne along with British 6th Airborne and RAF Pathfinders silently coming in by glider. Their jobs would be to seize key bridges, rail points, and crossroads in order to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the beachheads.

In addition to being the largest naval armada in the annals of world history, there were also 3,455 operational heavy bombers, 989 operational light and medium bombers, and 3,824 fighters available on June 6th. However, due to a shortage of aircrews, not all of these flew on D-Day. Nevertheless, some 7,774 planes did fly that day (that number jumps to 9,000 if you include transports and gliders. By contrast, the Luftwaffe had available just 815 assorted planes). The sight and sound of all those planes must have been mind numbing.

Unfortunately though, the landing took place at low tide causing the men to wade to shore from further out than anticipated since the landing craft couldn't get closer in to shore. As a result, hundreds of men drowned; the weight of their equipment dragging them down. Tanks, jeeps, and other vehicles also sank as the water was to deep or to rough. However, the low tide exposed the beach barricades which would had destroyed the landing craft had they tried to land at high tide. They also provided a measure of protection for the men to hide behind, saving who knows how many lives.

The Allies were lucky in other ways too. First, many of the heavy gun emplacements were either still empty or manned by smaller caliber artillery pieces. Of the sixty combat infantry divisions and ten Panzer divisions, including key SS units, which comprised the 850,000 troops and 1,555 tanks in France at the time, the majority---the most experienced---were stationed at Port of Calais, there were only 80,000 troops at Normandy on June 6th and element of just one Panzer division. To make matters worse for the Germans, of the 80,000 or so troops in Normandy, the majority had little or no combat experience. In fact, most were Auxiliary and conscripts (many as young as 16) from the Eastern territories. Also, many of the tanks on hand weren't yet combat operational; needing repairs or refitting. Those which were working hadn't been brought up the front at previously instructed.

Finally, the top command of German forces, including the commander for Army Group B, which covered Normandy, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, were away. Some had decided to take some extended leave time (not expecting an invasion due to weather), while Rommel had returned home on a surprise visit for his wife's birthday---June 6th. Meanwhile, Hitler was so convinced that the invasion would come at the Pas de Calais, that he had given strict instructions that no units---men, tanks, artillery, or plane---could be released without his personal approval.

As a result, the Germans were poorly prepared for any attack, but the cherry on the top was than when it was confirmed that the attack was indeed underway, Hitler was asleep. Suffering from bouts of insomnia, Hitler had taken a sleeping pill just hours before and his aides were afraid to wake Hitler up, and so the Allies were able to establish a foothold while Hitler counted sheep. Although the battle for Normandy lasted until August, by the time Hitler finally awoke, the damage had been done. In fact, while it should had only taken about six hours for Hitler's Panzers to make the journey from Calais to Normandy, French resistance fighters were able to delay them nearly three days, giving the Allies more time reinforce their positions.

Finally, to give some additional weight to the overall complexity of D-Day, besides the 150,000+ soldiers to participate in the landing and the 5,333 ships which got them there (including 200 warships which participated in the bombardment) or the 9000 aircraft which flew a total of 11,085 missions, 200,000 vehicles plus 1,550 tanks landed on the beaches that day along with 1,695 tons of material. Meanwhile Allied bombers dropped 7,616 tons of bombs that night before the invasion followed by 10,395 tons of bombs during the day of the invasion. 27 amphibious tanks were sunk at Utah beach, 120 Allied ships were damaged by German shelling, plus another 59 Allied ships which were sunk.

D-Day, June 6th 1944 marked the beginning of the end for the German occupation of France, and for the Nazi "Thousand Year Reich". By May 1945, the war in Europe would be over, and by August the war in the Pacific would come to a close too. There's another matter we must take into consideration too. Field Marshall Rommel remarked, about a pending invasion of Fortress Europe, that whenever and wherever it happened, it would be the "longest day" of the war.

For approximately 5000 men it was indeed their "longest day" because for them that day never ended. They were the ones who died on that day. In addition, some 15,000 French civilians living in and around Normandy also died, mostly from Allied shelling. On the German side, around 9000 soldiers were killed and some 200,000 were killed, missing, or taken prisoner including 28 generals. When calculated for the entire Normandy Campaign, which lasted from June 6 to August 30th, there were 209,000 Allied casualties. For the Germans, it was roughly 200,000. As an aside, the average age of a GI at the time was just 19 while the average age of an officer (excluding senior officers) was only 23.

While it's hard to believe that these old men with their walkers, canes, and wheelchairs accomplished these feats for which have all but been consigned to history books and the movies, there is no doubt that 75 years ago these were men of unbreakable will and character. They were a physically strong as they were sharp as knives. They lived through a depression, fought a war, and came home to remake a nation. The same can be said of all the women who served as well. While we're losing on average 300 of these individuals a day, make no mistake that these were the greatest generation and we should feel blessed that they existed.



D-Day Causalities: Total Allied and Axis Numbers

Figures of the Normandy Landing

Atlantic Wall

Normandy Landing

Operation Fortitude

May 8th: Remembering "VE Day" and the End of War in Europe

May 8th. Remember the date? How many of you recall hearing anything much about it on the news? I sure didn't, yet it's a very important date in world history and its impact still affects today. You see, May 8th marks the end of the war in Europe---VE Day or Victory in Europe Day---in 1945, 74 years ago. I think it's important to remember the significance of VE Day or May 8th.

World War II involved some 102 countries, making it a true global war. The principal players in drama set on the world stage were Germany, Italy, and Japan on the Axis side with supporting roles provided by Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Turkey, Spain, and Slovakia. On the opposing side, the Allies were comprised of Great Britain and her Commonwealth nations (Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, Hong Kong, and a few others), the United States, and France. It had the support of pretty much everyone else, but notably China, Vietnam, Korea, Philippines, Denmark, Burma, and Norway (some of these countries were occupied at the time and provided support via underground resistance movements.

As for the Soviet Union, which was under the iron fist of Joseph "Uncle Joe" Stalin. In the beginning, Stalin threw his support behind Hitler. It wasn't because he particularly liked Hitler, although it could certainly appreciate a fellow dictator when he saw one, rather it was out of self preservation. Hitler had long proclaimed that he would invade the East (Russia and Ukraine) in the search for Lebensraum or "living space" for the Germanic Peoples of Europe. He also vowed to rid the world of Communism. Together, they divided up Poland and Hitler give Stalin a free hand in the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. They also entered into a trade deal whereby Russia would provide Germany with key ores and oil which it needed for its war efforts. However, after the surprise invasion of German forces in July of 1940, Russia changed sides and allied itself with Allies (which at that time was mainly just Great Britain and her Commonwealth nations).

During the course of the war, approximately 60 million people died, which equated to around 3% of the world's total population based on 1940 estimates. Some figures put the total killed as high at 80 million people. This figure breaks down the number of deaths as between 50 - 55 million civilians, including around 18 million who died of war related famine and diseases, with some 21 - 25 million military, including 5 million prisoners of war. Of course, a true figure will never be known.

German estimates placed the number of dead and missing at between 6.9 million and 7.4 million, which was around 8.5% of its total population. France lost roughly 600,000 people or 1.4% of its population, whereas French Indonesia lost between 1 million and 1.2 million people. Italy lost about 1.6% of its population, which was around 514,000 people. Japan lost between 3.5% and 4.34% of its population (not including colonies, such as Korea) which totaled a high of 3.1 million people.

Poland suffered an enormous loss of six million people, which equaled just over 17% of its total population. The UK (including its colonies) lost 451,000 lives or .94% of its total population. The United States losses amounted to 419,400 souls, or roughly just .32% of our total population. China's losses were equally horrific. It's estimated that the Chinese lost somewhere between 16 million and 20 million souls at the hands of the Japanese. This amounted to about 3.86% of its population.

However, the most overlooked (or ignored) number of causalities doesn't go to the Axis nations or even to Western Allies...in aggregate. It went to the Soviet Union. Russia suffered a mind numbing loss of 20 million people during the "Great Patriotic War" as they call World War II. When Soviet Republics are added, that number jumps to 26.6 million lives. Belarus, which buffers between Poland and Russia, lost 25% of its total population. So the south, the Ukraine lost 16.3% of it populace.

Of course, we can't forget the Holocaust (nor should we ever). As most already know, approximately six million Jews died at as result of the extermination and concentration (or work) camps. But this wasn't all. Roma gypsies also suffered, though they tend to be overlooked by historians. Nevertheless, some 285,650 gypsies died in the same extermination and concentrations camps. As an aside, in terms of population, a higher percentage of gypsies died than did Jews. In addition, 200,000 disabled or mentally handicapped people were executed, beginning with the "Action T4 Program", which was intended to rid the Reich of physically and mentally "inferior" individuals.

Germany's ally, Croatia, is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of around 340,000 ethnic Serbs, gypsies, and Jews. The Jewish population in Greece was nearly completely wiped out. Finally, some 5000+ Roman Catholics, Jehovah Witnesses, various Protestant denominations, as well as a Social Democrats, trade unionists, academics, political dissidents (such as the "White Rose") and Communists were believed to have been executed during the war. Again, the exact number will never be truly known.

World War II, which most historians consider to simply have been a continuation of World War I, with a 20 year pause to change players on the world stage, was the most brutal of all wars yet experienced by Mankind. The repercussions of the war led directly to the rise of Communism as a world ideology, the division of the world into basically two warring camps, and to the Cold War, with all its proxy wars down through the decade not to mention coming to the brink of nuclear annihilation on more than one occasion. Despite the tragedy of the war, there's another tragedy which is unfolding, for which no one is blame and there is nothing we can do to stop.

During World War II, the US committed some 16,112,566 men and women to the war, not including millions of civilian personnel who worked in factories and shipyards. As of September 2017, there were only around 588,000 left, and they are dying off at a rate of 362 every single day based on 2016 estimates by the Department of Veterans Affairs.; the youngest of whom are in their late 80's.

At that rate, the "Greatest Generation" will be all gone within the next 20 years. In the UK, there are only about 100,000 WWII veterans left. Canada has about 150,000 WWII veteran still with us, while Russia has approximately the same amount remaining (the last Soviet soldier who took part in the seizure of the Reich Chancellery, Nikolay Belyaev, died at the age of 93 in 2015. He was part of the feared 756th Regiment of the 3rd Shock Army). As an aside, there are around 250,000 veterans of the German Wehrmacht or Armed Forces still alive as of 2015.

Personally, I find it a shame that we don't make a bigger effort to celebrate the deeds and lives of these incredibly brave men and women. These were the young adults and children of the Great Depression, whose lives were molded by hardship, self-sacrifice, and self reliance. For many, it was also marked by poverty the likes of which most of us have no clue about. They were, and are, some amazingly resilient individuals.

Through my Disabled American Veterans Chapter, I have had the honor to know and befriend many of these men and women. I have had the distinct privilege to speak with them about their lives; to hear firsthand their stories of what life was like in places like North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, Crete, Normandy, Caen, Holland, Bastogne, over Berlin or Tokyo, not to mention Bataan, Midway, the Coral Sea, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, and dozens of other places which were once just names on page in a book or grainy, sometimes colorized, newsreels or combat footage on TV.

For them, these were very real places full of heat, mosquitoes, sweat, hunger, fear, pain, adrenaline, compassion and hatred where they lost friends, met new ones only to lose them a few days, hours or minutes later. It was the places where lifelong friendship were made...with those who survived; bonds closer than anyone could possibly imagine and will last to the grave and beyond as well as indelible memories mixed with both relief and guilt for having made it home.

Their reality bears no resemblance to the mass produced Hollywood movies many of us have used to shape our vision of war where the hero's hair is never out of place, the uniforms are clean, and there's never any blood or gore, and there's always a happy ending. It also bears little similarity to the sanitized newsreels of the period which provided only the briefest of glances at war's outcome.

This past May 8th marked the 74th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, however, the war would continue another three months in the Pacific before ending onboard the battleship, USS Missouri, on August 15th 1945. Victory in Japan or "VJ Day" as it would become known, would be officially celebrated on September 2nd. So, if you happen to see a an elderly man or woman wearing a hat or emblem identifying them as a WWII veteran, be sure to shake their hand and say "Thank you for all you did" (though you may have to speak up). What they endured for you and me is beyond measure.

Taking "The Train to Crystal City" : A Story of Courage, Betrayal and the Triumph of the Human Will

Last January, I got the opportunity to review one of those rare books which takes the reader by surprise by its depth into the nature of humanity. The book, "The Train to Crystal City" by Jan Jarboe Russell, is the rarely told story of community, uprooted by war, fear, and anger; stripped of nearly everything and held captive behind barbed wire and watchtowers and ultimately used as pawns by a government they trusted in as told from the prespective of two American-born teenage girls; one of Japanesse ancestry and the other of German. Their stories are made even more tragic by the fact that these were ordinary Americans, differing only in national origin or race, but otherwise little different from you and I.

Like any American family found in every city, town, or wide spot on a country road, they had their own family traditions and beliefs. They shared the desire for a new and better life for themselves and their children. They believed strongly in a strong work ethic, in family and community, and most of all, in freedom. What happened to these family was a national tragedy, but also a warning that such things have happened here and may happen again.

The publication of "The Train to Crystal City" was a literary success. It was listed in the New York Times' "The Top Books of 2015" and the New York Post's "2015 Favorates". I would like to think that my pre-publication review of the book, which I am re-posting below, aided in some small way to its success, but the credit belongs entirely to Ms. Russell's ability to bring the stories of these remarkable individuals to life in such a way that even with the passing of some 70 odd years we can easily relate to them as if they were one of our own. With that, I am pleased to say that "The Train to Crystal City" has been released in paperback. If you haven't had the opportunity to read this book, I urge you to do so now. It may just open your eyes.

A Another Opinion Book Review:
"The Train to Crystal City"
by Jan Jarboe Russell


World War II, like all wars, encompassed more than just military successes or defeats or the rise and fall of an ideology. Wars impact every aspect of human existence, thus it comes down to the individual and how their lives are impacted in ways where they had little, or more often than not, no choices. So what becomes of those who trusted their country to protect them and instead, betrayed them? What about governments who selectively disregard individual rights out of fears---perhaps real; perhaps not? How does one cope with suddenly being stripped of their job; their school; the friends and loved one and imprisoned for an undefined crime? We've come to expect this of a dictatorship, but what about America?

I had the opportunity to recently review "The Train to Crystal City" by Jan Jarboe Russell. This is the story of just a few of the thousands of lives that, through war, became intertwined in ways that are scarcely imaginable today. These ordinary individuals found themselves thrust upon a world stage, not as bit players, but as set pieces to be used and discarded by events far greater than any of them could comprehend at the time. This is the story of what happens to the American Dream when fear and prejudice are allowed to engulf a nation's soul.

Most of us are familiar with the stories of internment camps which housed Japanese-Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but most of us don't know about the Germans and Italians, some of whom having been nationalized and living ordinary lives for years, who were also interned after being stripped of their citizenship. Fewer yet know that many of those imprisoned included their American born spouses and children or that they included individuals, mostly businessmen, kidnapped along with their families by the US Government from various Latin American countries such as Peru or Mexico, and then brought to America illegally, to be held as essentially bargaining chips along with the rest of the internees.

The internment camp in Crystal City Texas was a one of a kind facility designed to hold families and serve to facilitate a secret prisoner exchange program created by President Roosevelt. Its internees would be exchanged, sometimes involuntarily, along with their families and sent to Germany for key personnel, such as downed US pilots or prominent businessmen held by the enemy, and later in the war, for American or non-aligned Jewish nationals held in concentration camps. Then there was those Japanese-Americans who just wanted to go home---not to Tokyo or Yokohama---but to Los Angeles, San Francisco or perhaps Lima and return to their lives before the war who instead found themselves on liberty ships sailing to a devastated and defeated Japan; a Japan their parents did not recognize. As wonderfully told by Ms. Russell, many of the children, who were American born, didn't speak the language of their parent nor understand the culture. In countries where thousands were fleeing and millions were trying to rebuild their lives, these former Americans or Latin Americans were trying to find their way amid rubble, despair, and suspicion.

Then, of course, there were those who benefited from secret exchange like a former baseball pitcher and pilot who was shot down over Germany and lost a leg, exchanged for an internee and found a new life back home in America, or a Jewish girl, who had been interned in the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp along with her family, and managed to obtain a forged passport from Ecuador, exchanged for an denationalized German and his family at the last minute, but then left stranded in Algiers awaiting changes in a government policy that would allow her to complete her journey, while her family remained stuck in a Swiss hospital thousands of miles away.

These stories are as compelling as they are compassionately told through Ms Russell with each turn of the page; many of their stories having never been told until now. Thanks to Ms. Russell, we can relive their memories with them; their fears; their anger; their sense of betrayal; and their sense of aloneness and shame as their time behind barbed wire and watch towers slowly changed from days into months, and then into years, and ultimately the bitterness that they faced when they were forced to leave the country they loved so much and return to a world they barely remembered or knew at all. Some would adjust. Some would be broken, but all would carry the weight of their internment.

In the end, "The Train to Crystal City" is a story that every American needs to know. As hard as it is for us to believe some 70 years on, this is a story of people as real as you or I who had to suffer the indignity of imprisonment and loss of nearly everything they held dear for nothing more than being born in a foreign land or looking different. Finally, it's the story of perseverance; of family and the human spirit's ability to overcome hardships. It's also a warning. If it happened once before, could it happen again, and if so, who will its victims be this time?

The Train to Crystal City: A Another Opinion Book Review

A Another Opinion Book Review:
"The Train to Crystal City"
by Jan Jarboe Russell

World War II, like all wars, encompassed more than just military successes or defeats or the rise and fall of an ideology. Wars impact every aspect of human existence, thus it comes down to the individual and how their lives are impacted in ways where they had little, or more often than not, no choices. So what becomes of those who trusted their country to protect them and instead, betrayed them? What about governments who selectively disregard individual rights out of fears---perhaps real; perhaps not? How does one cope with suddenly being stripped of their job; their school; the friends and loved one and imprisoned for an undefined crime? We've come to expect this of a dictatorship, but what about America?

I had the opportunity to recently review "The Train to Crystal City" by Jan Jarboe Russell. This is the story of just a few of the thousands of lives that, through war, became intertwined in ways that are scarcely imaginable today. These ordinary individuals found themselves thrust upon a world stage, not as bit players, but as set pieces to be used and discarded by events far greater than any of them could comprehend at the time. This is the story of what happens to the American Dream when fear and prejudice are allowed to engulf a nation's soul.

Most of us are familiar with the stories of internment camps which housed Japanese-Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but most of us don't know about the Germans and Italians, some of whom having been nationalized and living ordinary lives for years, who were also interned after being stripped of their citizenship. Fewer yet know that many of those imprisoned included their American born spouses and children or that they included individuals, mostly businessmen, kidnapped along with their families by the US Government from various Latin American countries such as Peru or Mexico, and then brought to America illegally, to be held as essentially bargaining chips along with the rest of the internees.

The internment camp in Crystal City Texas was a one of a kind facility designed to hold families and serve to facilitate a secret prisoner exchange program created by President Roosevelt. Its internees would be exchanged, sometimes involuntarily, along with their families and sent to Germany for key personnel, such as downed US pilots or prominent businessmen held by the enemy, and later in the war, for American or non-aligned Jewish nationals held in concentration camps. Then there was those Japanese-Americans who just wanted to go home---not to Tokyo or Yokohama---but to Los Angeles, San Francisco or perhaps Lima and return to their lives before the war who instead found themselves on liberty ships sailing to a devastated and defeated Japan; a Japan their parents did not recognize. As wonderfully told by Ms. Russell, many of the children, who were American born, didn't speak the language of their parent nor understand the culture. In countries where thousands were fleeing and millions were trying to rebuild their lives, these former Americans or Latin Americans were trying to find their way amid rubble, despair, and suspicion.

Then, of course, there were those who benefited from secret exchange like a former baseball pitcher and pilot who was shot down over Germany and lost a leg, exchanged for an internee and found a new life back home in America, or a Jewish girl, who had been interned in the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp along with her family, and managed to obtain a forged passport from Ecuador, exchanged for an denationalized German and his family at the last minute, but then left stranded in Algiers awaiting changes in a government policy that would allow her to complete her journey, while her family remained stuck in a Swiss hospital thousands of miles away.

These stories are as compelling as they are compassionately told through Ms Russell with each turn of the page; many of their stories having never been told until now. Thanks to Ms. Russell, we can relive their memories with them; their fears; their anger; their sense of betrayal; and their sense of aloneness and shame as their time behind barbed wire and watch towers slowly changed from days into months, and then into years, and ultimately the bitterness that they faced when they were forced to leave the country they loved so much and return to a world they barely remembered or knew at all. Some would adjust. Some would be broken, but all would carry the weight of their internment.

In the end, "The Train to Crystal City" is a story that every American needs to know. As hard as it is for us to believe some 70 years on, this is a story of people as real as you or I who had to suffer the indignity of imprisonment and loss of nearly everything they held dear for nothing more than being born in a foreign land or looking different. Finally, it's the story of perseverance; of family and the human spirit's ability to overcome hardships. It's also a warning. If it happened once before, could it happen again, and if so, who will its victims be this time?

"The Train to Crystal City" by Jan Jarboe Russell is a must read for anyone interested in American history, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, German, Japanese, or Italian history, WWII history, Constitutional law, philosophy, human or civil rights or civics. I could easily see this book in every high school or college library.