Flame Keepers: The True Story of an American Soldier’s Survival Inside Stalag 17
Stalag 17 stands at center stage in accounts of American aircrew held as prisoners of war by Germany in World War II. Ned Handy was a Flight Engineer/Gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber shot down in Spring, 1944. Handy’s dispassionate narrative of his pre-war life in the Depression and aerial combat in German-controlled skies over Europe blend in seamlessly with his description of endless months of duress as a “kriegie” in Stalag 17. This is a candid and extraordinarily well written tale that reminds us today of the sacrifice, suffering, and determination of the World War II generation.
