Author Description

This is an exceptionally intimate story of Albert Roland "Roland" Cooke, an airman who was shot down over enemy territory while serving his country during WWII. The author found box loads of information about his father's journey and those of his friends and felt compelled to share it with the world. Tech Sergeant Albert Roland Cooke was in the U.S. Army 8th Air Force, 377th Bomb Squadron, 392nd Bomb Group. You will learn what is was like to be shot down over a flaming enemy city and jump terrified into the air with a parachute for the first time, landing to be captured and hauled off to the first of four abominable POW camps or "stalags" and remain incarcerated for 15 months. You will follow Roland and his buddies as they are moved from one heinous "stalag" to another. How did Roland battle and defeat his extreme postwar POW trauma later in life? The book also explores the author's impoverished family on the rural North Carolina home front. WWII has produced hundreds/thousands of stories of survivors. This one will open your eyes to how a typical young man from a poor area survived German Captivity and how he ultimately overcame his POW trauma. Bundle up as the story takes place in freezing temperatures and the POWs are starving, sick, and malnourished.