To D-day And Back: Adventures With The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment And Life As A World War Ii Pow

"If further evidence is needed to back up Tom Brokaw's selection of 'The Greatest Generation, ' Bob Bearden's rich and candid memoir supplies it--a well written saga of a young man's growth and leadership while overcoming more than his share of the tremendous challenges facing the soldiers who defend our freedom."
--Gen. Robert M. Shoemaker, U.S. Army (Ret.)
"Bob Bearden's incredible story takes the reader on a journey which will evoke all of the human emotions--laughter, sorrow, horror, joy, excitement, terror, and wonder. From his terrifying days of mortal combat in Normandy, to his capture and internment, his daily struggle for survival in POW camps, and his frightening liberation at the hands of the Red Army--all reveal how his tough, hardscrabble youth in Depression-era America and his training as a paratrooper gave him the resourcefulness and grim determination to survive. Bearden's insights into daily life in the army and as a POW make this book a must-have addition to the collections of those interested in World War II history. I highly recommend this book."
--Phil Nordyke, author,
All American, All the Way" and Four Stars of Valor"
"An amazing saga of a trooper's experience of combat in Normandy and his life as a POW in German stalags. Bearden's unique tale recounts how he was violently liberated by the Russians, then traveled alone through war-ravaged Poland only to end up a POW in Russia again. His journey and eventual escape to Allied control kept me up reading till 2 a.m."
--Col. Spencer F. Wurst, U.S. Army (Ret.), author,
"Descending from the Clouds: A Memoir of Combat in the
505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82ndDivision"
"I've known Bob Bearden, man and boy, for nearly seventy years, and I was not surprised at the captivating quality of his story. This epic tale of his drop into Normandy on June 6, 1944, and its chilling aftermath throbs with excitement and holds our attention transfixed."
--Jim Wright, Former Speaker,
U.S. House of Representatives
From the book:
"I scrambled toward the gun, trying to recall the exact position of the pin you pushed out to take a BAR apart. That much I remembered. But the Germans soon relieved us of the task of messing with the BAR. They slipped up on our flank along the hedge to our left and cut loose right down our hedgerow with an MG42 machine gun. The krauts were on the same side of the hedgerow as we were, and they were looking straight up it toward our position. The tracer bullets coming out of that gun made yet another vivid scene of death. How I survived that moment, I will never know."

In the predawn hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944, which would become immortalized as the Longest Day, Bob Bearden and his comrades in the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped into the inky skies over Normandy. Their mission: defend the west bank of the Merderet River against German counterattack. After long months of training they were finally taking the war to the Germans. Beardens time in combat proved shortlived, however, when he was captured on D+2, June 8.
This was only the beginning of a new war for his very survival through multiple German POW camps and ultimately on an epic journey that would take him largely on foot all the way to Moscow on his journey home, all of which makes for exciting reading in this remarkable memoir.