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Book Review: The Flame Keepers
by James Perlowski
So where do I start?
How about the simple fact that it is my opinion that EVERY citizen of the United States of America should have to read this book as an obligation to continue being a citizen of the U.S.!
Sound too harsh? Well, Good! Let me explain....
During World War II there were men, young men mostly, who sacrificed at great odds their personal securities and freedom in order that we could live our daily lives any way we see fit today. Many of them flew the bombers that destroyed the Nazi munitions and development plants over Germany which saved many of our troops from having to die in the process of finally invading and taking out this mad man Hitler.
But unfortunately, most of these same very men were shot down, killed, or captured and sent to a hell known as a "Stalag" or Prison Camp (80% causality rate in the 466th Bomb group alone!). Not the funny ha ha Stalags like the one you see in Hogan's Heroes, where every inmate looked well fed and happy go lucky, but a concentration camp masked as something more that its true meaning...
A place where they were served 1 meal a day consisting of a form of gruel that had rat meat and anything else the German's could find around the area.
Sometimes they were lucky and could find a piece of wild turnip or rancid potato mixed in for good measure, but the soup was nothing more than a low nutrient broth....
They lived on this for the entire time they were forced to stay there. They went through un godly trials at ages ranging from 20 to 26 years of age, and normally froze in the winters and baked in the summers, living in barracks that were made of poorly insolated drift wood as most other supplies were used for the army.
Leave it to say that these men will always be ingrained in my mind and heart as heroes beyond that of any "John Wayne" or Audie Murphy type, simply because they didn't ask for this, but carried themselves with the honor and dignity becoming United States Air Force Personnel.
To the many men who served valiantly in our Armed Forces, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and salute you!
God Bless,
James L Perlowski Jr.
Web master/Harv
September 2006
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