Synopses & Reviews
“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, 82nd Division
“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.”
Review
World War 2 Database, October 2007
“Bob Bearden's To D-Day and Back was not just another paratrooper-themed memoir trying to ride on the success of others. Several distinctions set this work apart from others. Bearden told his story from a very personal angle. Coupled with the use of everyday prose, the book was another one of those works that felt much like storytelling by a member of the family. It was not just another war memoir, but rather, the book told how the war interacted with Bearden's life.
“Bearden also had the unfortunate experience of becoming a German prisoner of war merely two days after he jumped into Normandy, France. He faithfully recorded his observations while it came, amidst braving malnutrition and the cold winter. While other authors told the horrors of war through descriptions of exploding shells and flying shrapnel, Bearden completed the picture by telling the horrors of war through experiences of being imprisoned by the Germans … Indeed, his WW2 experience was a unique and remarkable adventure, recorded in captivating detail in To D-Day and Back.”
Synopsis
“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, 82nd Division
“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.”
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
Bob Bearden was a paratrooper with the 507th PIR during World War II. From the epilogue:
"As I look back at my life at the age of 84, I can truly say it has been an adventure. I have never paid much attention to my age when learning or starting something new. My newest accomplishment--and I use the word lightly--is my use of the computer to type this book and email chapters to my editor."
Bob Bearden lives in Belton, Texas.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
PART I
Doing my bit One Texas National Guard, 144th Infantry
Two Parachute School, Fort Benning, Georgia
Three 507th Cast of Characters
Four Payday Parties
Five Training Jumps in a Peanut Patch
Six Louisiana Maneuvers, 1943
Seven: Rodeo Jump: Alliance, Nebraska, August 1943 Eight The Jumping Mascot Nine Sedalia, Missouri Jump
Ten Taking My Exclusive Furlough to Wyoming
Eleven The 507th PIR in Northern Ireland
Twelve Jolly Olde England: Fish and Chips, 507th Style
PART II
D-DAY AND THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY
Thirteen D-Day Jump and the Little French Maid
Fourteen Assembly
Fifteen The Battle for Fresville
Sixteen Taylor’s Group: Bundle Duty and Ear Injury
Seventeen Millett’s Group: My Hottest Day of the War
Eighteen Avoid Crossing God in Combat
Nineteen Patrols and Moving Out
Twenty Capture
PART III
TOURING EUROPE 10TH CLASS: MY LIFE AS A POW
Twenty-One From St. Lo to Alencon
Twenty-Two We Lay Tracks, Dig Bombs, and Play Nurse
Twenty-Three Gimme Shelter
Twenty-Four Buttered French Bread
Twenty-Five Alencon-Paris and a Meeting with the Berlin Bitch
Twenty-Six Victory Is Sweet
Twenty-Seven A Boxcar Ride to Stalag XIIA: Horrors by Day or Night
Twenty-Eight Stalag IVB to Stalag IIIC: Learning the Ropes as a POW
Twenty-Nine Stalag IIIC, Kuestrin: Willkommen!
Thirty Daily Life at Stalag IIIC: Pals So Good and True
Thirty-One Red Cross to the Rescue
Thirty-Two Deutsch fur Amerikaner: Swaps and Scams at Stalag IIIC
Thirty-Three Life and Death (Mostly Death): The French and Russian Compounds
Thirty-Four The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Part IV
The Russian Experience Or, heading east to go west
Thirty-Five Vodka, Vodka, Everywhere, and Plenty of It to Drink
Postscript Taking the Ankle Express Home