Author Robert J. Richey has assembled fascinating documents
revealing his younger brother Glenn’s life during World War II in his book
titled, My Brother Glenn: A Prisoner of
the Gestapo During World War II.
From his brother being a bomber gunner on American B-17’s flying sorties
over Germany, these recently uncovered documents were compiled by the author showing
handwritten notes of his brother summarizing many of the bombing runs over
Germany. The final entry in this chapter
reads, “Mission #22 Flown on June 5, 1944.
Shot down over Embreville, France at 10:00 AM. Captured August 3, 1944. Liberated April 29, 1945. The End.” From this point the story takes on a
different form.
The format of My
Brother Glenn changes to an unabridged transcript of a dialogue, a de-briefing
if you will, told by Glenn Richey to a military doctor, upon being freed from
the inhumane treatment of the German guards.
Needless to say the details regarding the events of being a prisoner of
the Gestapo are shocking, discomforting, and almost beyond belief of how humans
can do such things to others. To be
philosophical, I would say these experiences are valuable for society to have
documented as being firsthand accounts of history, eye witness accounts to the
atrocities and horror of war; never to be forgotten.
To educate younger people to the details of World War II,
the author begins with a series of photographs of the warplanes used at that
time. Also, following the narrative of
the time spent as a prisoner, Robert Richey includes a few letters written by
some of the people mentioned in the prior section of the book. A quote from the preface sums it up, “It
reveals in great detail the incredible courage of the brave young men of the
Eighth Air Force who faced death daily in the Cause of Freedom. So many of
them perished, in their effort in keeping the Torch of Freedom burning brightly.
May God rest their souls!”
My Brother Glenn
will resonate in the mind of all readers as being a different form of book,
more like a collage of words and photographs, handwritten and typed
documents. The men who fought the
battles of WWII are now either elderly or passed, so the importance of bringing
public any and all credible relics from the era is in fact a feat of
honor. By publishing this personal
collection of memoirs, Robert J. Richey pays tribute to his brother, and all
fallen soldiers and airmen of World War II.
