Shocked by a stranger’s accusation that her father lied about how he acquired the first volume of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler’s personal copy of Mein Kampf during World War II, a daughter embarks on a journey to defend her father’s honor. Armed with a war journal her father never shared with his family and her training in historical research, the author returns to the battlefields of Europe. Can she uncover one man’s actions at the end of a war that involved millions of people? She reconsiders her past as a youthful anti-Vietnam War protester while she traces the movements of her father’s 4th Infantry Division’s 22nd Infantry Regiment from D-Day to V-E Day. Her answer lies within the personal stories and reflections of the soldiers and civilians forever impacted by the deadly conflict. What emerges is a chronicle of the 22nd Infantry Regiment during WWII within a memoir of family and personal growth, bound together by the human face of war.
Lieutenant John Sisson was home on a 30-day leave with two Purple Hearts in January 1945 when he recorded his combat experiences. His narrative is shared for the first time since its discovery after he died in 1991.
