My Father S Journey American Pilot To German P O W And Back Color

My Father's Journey is about one man's poignant journey from idyllic childhood in Aurora, New York, to World War II pilot in England to prisoner of war in a desolate camp in German-occupied Poland. Experience firsthand Baldwin C. Avery's struggle to survive the 20th century and all it brought-triumphs and tragedies, love and loss, and a legacy of service to country and community-with the power of faith and family at the heart of it all. In this full color version, My Father's Journey unfolds as a daughter delves into her father's collection of letters, journals, newspaper clippings, photos, and memoirs, and pieces them together to re-create his amazing and inspiring story.

The story begins one evening in 2016 at a celebration of family and friends in France, people who know each other only because of their connection to an American WWII pilot, Captain Edward Appel. The main event is the presentation of Edward's parachute to Juliann, his daughter. This recovered parachute had saved the pilot's life as he jumped from a failing B-24 bomber in the year 1944 near Surbourg, France. Edward enlisted in the army in 1940 and made his way up through the ranks to pilot status in 1943. He was sent to England as a B-24 Liberator bomber pilot. On his last required mission, he was shot down over France. After bailing out of the plane, he managed to evade German soldiers in a series of quick thinking moves. During three months of hiding with the help of farmers, local citizens and the French resistance, he avoided capture by the German military and returned to the Allies after the front lines moved through his position. Upon returning to England, he could have gone home since he had completed all his missions, but he didn't feel quite right about the way his bomber missions had ended. He had lost crew members and some were in POW camps. Instead, he decided to do a tour as a fighter pilot, specifically in the P-47 Thunderbolt. On what he again believed was his last mission, he was shot down once more behind enemy lines in Germany. He was the last P-47 pilot to be shot down during WWII. He was considered, at first, "Killed in Action." However, he survived the crash landing (which included him and his plane cartwheeling across an open field), escaped initial encounters with German soldiers, and overcame several intense events during the course of his 10-day evasion. With the help of local Germans, he survived and returned to the Allies once again as the front lines moved over his position during the night. The group of American soldiers that picked him up in Germany was the same group that had picked him up in France, and therefore thought he may be a spy. Edward Appel became one of the few WWII pilots who flew both heavy bombers and fighter planes with the 8th Air Force, and was a two-time evader. Throughout the book, time goes back and forth 70 years to the same month, and at times the same date, intertwining Edward's amazing story with Juliann's discoveries as she researches her father's war experiences. These include reunions with families that helped her father evade the Germans, eyewitness accounts, items from the crash sites, walks retracing her father's paths (one of which was recorded in a documentary), and a commemorative ceremony in France.At the end of the book, we return once more to the celebration in 2016 and revealed is an unexpected detail which connects Edward's lifesaving parachute to his daughter, Juliann.

“A truly remarkable story . . . Marc Stevens has produced a fitting tribute to his father . . . who played a full part in the defeat of Nazi Germany.” —HistoryOfWar.org Peter Stevens was a German-Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi persecution as a teenager in 1933. He joined the RAF in 1939 and after eighteen months of pilot training he started flying bombing missions against his own country. He completed twenty-two missions before being shot down and taken prisoner by the Nazis in September 1941. To escape became his raison d’être and his great advantage was that he was in his native country. He was recaptured after each of his several escapes, but the Nazis never realized his true identity. He took part in the logistics and planning of several major breakouts, including The Great Escape, but was never successful in getting back to England. After liberation, when the true nature of his exploits came to light, he was awarded the Military Cross. He then served as a British spy at the beginning of the Cold War before emigrating to Canada to resume a normal life. This is the story of a heavily conflicted young man, alone in a world that is in the midst of destruction. He is afforded an opportunity to help his persecuted people to obtain a small measure of revenge. It is at once a sad yet uplifting tale of thankless and unheralded heroism. “This is a wartime career that would make any son proud, but Steven’s real triumph is in writing a biography that will satisfy the most discerning historian.” —National Defence Journal

"Escape... escape... escape... by God!"' was his constant exhortation. "Never mind hunger pains, discomfort, or any other agony. Let escape become your passion, your one and only obsession until you finally reach home."' Shot down over Berlin in 1941, Richard Pape's saga of captivity is a story of courage unmatched in the annals of escape. Four escapes took him across the breadth of German-occupied Europe; to Poland and Czechoslovakia; to Austria and Hungary. Aggressive and impetuous, his adventures sweep the reader along on a torrent of excitement.