The Things Our Fathers Saw

The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation (D-Day and Beyond, Volume 5)

By: Matthew Rozell

Narrated by: John Pirhalla

Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

When you step off the landing craft into the sea, bullets flying at 0630, how do you react to your vision of your mother opening the telegram that you have been killed?

When your glider crashes and breaks apart, what do you when you are shot and the Germans are bearing down on you, and you know your dog tags identify you as a Jew?

“I had a vision, if you want to call it that. At my home, the mailman would walk up toward the front porch, and I saw it just as clear as if he's standing beside me - I see his blue jacket and the blue cap and the leather mailbag. Here he goes up to the house, but he doesn’t turn. He goes right up the front steps. This happened so fast, probably a matter of seconds, but the first thing that came to mind: that's the way my folks would find out what happened to me.

The next thing I know, I kind of come to, and I'm in the push-up mode. I'm half up out of the underwater depression, and I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened to those prone figures on the beach, and all of a sudden, I realized I'm in amongst those bodies!” (Army demolition engineer Omaha Beach, D-Day)

Dying for freedom isn’t the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is.

“My last mission was the Bastogne mission. We were being towed, we're approaching Bastogne, and I see a cloud of flak, anti-aircraft fire. I said to myself, ‘I'm not going to make it.’ There were a couple of groups ahead of us, so now the anti-aircraft batteries are zeroing in. Every time a new group came over, they kept zeroing in. My outfit had, I think, 95 percent casualties.” (Glider pilot, D-Day and beyond)

Maybe our veterans did not volunteer to tell us their stories; perhaps we were too busy with our own lives to ask. But they opened up to a younger generation, when a history teacher taught his students to engage.

As we forge ahead as a nation, do we owe it to ourselves to become reacquainted with a generation that is fast leaving us, who asked for nothing but gave everything, to attune ourselves as Americans to a broader appreciation of what we stand for?

This is the fifth book in the masterful WWII oral history series, but you can listen to them in any order.

©2019 Matthew Rozell (P)2021 Matthew Rozell

All they went through

Great book, and such great stories and events to remember. It is important for generations to come to learn from these events and remember these hero’s

Great book.

These stories need to be heard by every American. We need constant reminders that freedom is not free.

Amazing first hand accounts

The stories of these men and women are given such care in how they are shared. The author truly cares about his subjects. Thank you for sharing these stories.

True stories of war.....

The moments in war of heartbreak, happiness, and untold bravery come to life in this literary historical master work. If you are at all interested in this chapter of american....WORLD history, then please take the time to listen.

Excellent WWII Interviews

This book series is great for listening to the personal stories of World War 2 veterans.

Another Amazing Volume

Matthew Rozell has yet to have a misstep duty this brilliant series. To say that this series is anything less than the best of WWII nonfiction is to not give it the credit it deserves. By interviewing real men who lived it and in an interview like fashion, a continuous story emerges. No one man has a similar story. They’re all so different. But the tie in is sacrifice and service. What they lived through and did we can never fully comprehend. Gratitude doesn’t suffice. And now most if not all of these men have passed. But their stories are forever here. Thank you Matthew Rozell for this treasure.

Mind blowing.

This book will have you on your toes!! Hearing all these stories will make your eyeballs open wide! Must listen!

Excellent history

Very good book as is all in this series. Recommend it highly. Very detailed and well written.

History never thought

I love WW2 and it was great to hear all these stories. Especially from first hand accounts.

Disappointed

Not at all what I expected. I’m only a couple of hours in, but I’m not hooked by any means. I thought it would be a first hand account of Normandy. I’m want to smell the air that day, hear the sounds, etc. not even close to that at this point. I’m mad at myself for wasting a credit on this book.