I Walk Through the Valley

"Greetings...you will report to the local board," said the letter to the 31-year-old father and husband, drafting him into the Army in 1944. There followed boot camp and bitter combat in Europe.

Wounded, the author spent three days suffering on a frozen battlefield before being captured, hospitalized and then incarcerated by the Germans. Liberation, healing and reunion with loved ones took a long, long time.