My latest book is a bit of a different turn for me, what with the historical backdrop of World War II, and the serious subject matter that is a young guy – my father – being taken, prisoner. Even having said that, you’ll still find evidence of my humorous writing style in the writing duet that is my father and I telling his story. I provide the back story, as it were, from what he told me, and then you get to read exactly how he spoke about his experience one time, and one time only, in public.
Through a series of seemingly innocuous small events occurring at the height of World War II, 24-year-old Air Force Staff Sergeant Frank D. Dean found himself flying numerous combat missions in the European Theater as a replacement crew member for the 95th Bomb Group. His last mission was the Black Week Münster run when he was shot down on October 10, 1943. After bailing out of his burning B-17—the Fritz Blitz—he was greeted by the Gestapo as well as several crabby villagers who were waiting for him on the ground. Captured before he could even get out of his parachute harness, he spent the rest of World War II as a Nazi Germany prisoner of war held at the infamous Stalag 17-B prison camp. His experience is destined to be indelibly inked as a must-read allegorical American story of survival reminding us all to remember.
“You never realize what freedom is until you don’t have it. You never realize what you have until you see another flag that does not belong in any way, shape, or form, to your form of government, over an installation. And to look up and see the Nazi flag in lieu of the stars and stripes was always a shock.” Frank D. Dean
Diane Dean-Epps, Writer 