Trails of Tragedy and Triumph

This book is about an American B24 bomber crew shot down in enemy territory while returning from a successful mission. The narrative recounts human tragedy and captures the triumph of the human spirit. These men's heroic run for freedom bonded them in life and death. They walked for over six-hundred miles, climbing steep mountains, running through the German-occupied valleys and into dangerous lands divided by vicious bands of guerrilla warfare. These brave Americans made their way with the generous help of people who spoke a language that they could not understand. They were surrounded by famine and human misery and walked on land-mine infested territories. There were days of starvation, unbearable exhaustion, crossfires, bombings, and death. Despite these impossible odds, most of them made it through. Others did not. This book is also a tribute to all unsung heroes who engaged in the controversial conflict we call war. It is about the men and women who came from the ranks of civil societies, who left families and jobs behind, to fight in the wars that others created. It is about those who now history refers to with the anonymous word “troops.” Consequently, the eternal question remains unanswered; Should glory and victory surpass catastrophe and human suffering? I believe that wars demonstrate a chain of events that intertwine into a maze of disastrous outcomes. In wars, the destiny of those involved is determined by the simple gesture of somebody else using a mechanism that is alien to our wishes and our will. My friend, look at those butchered in wars. Anyone of them could have been your son, your daughter. These are your children sent to wars by those who have the privilege to hold the ultimate power, a power that is used capriciously to display absolute command. As long as humans create wars, the concept of killing to survive will remain unchanged and unchangeable; Yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever. This story is about the heroes who we will never hear about because they are on the stage for a short time because they are insignificant in the bigger scope of history. Their names must be in the narrative of the eternal story of the person who, in war, manifests himself in all his truth because nothing reveals as much as wars. Nothing exacerbates with the same strength, beauty, and ugliness. Nothing else but wars unmasks our courage and our cowardice. Countless writers use World War II as a prototype to chronicle other wars. World War II was an event full of ideologies and feelings, a war that covered reality and fantasy without separating them. It was a time that the whole population of this planet was affected. Even those who did not witness the death camps, the killing of children, the torture and rape, are still mentally brutalized by the images of unbelievable human suffering. Because of that, we have lost a part of our being.