An eager new Army Air Corps Sergeant is awarded the Silver Star Medal for gallantry in war for action over North Africa. What price did he pay? Most of the aircrew perished after their B-25 was hit, but luckily Lang and the tail gunner survived and landed in the Mediterranean Sea, his burns soothed by the cool waters. SGT Lang spent months in Italian and German hospitals, eventually arriving at Stalag VII-A. He and his fellow Allied POW's (Krieges) were eventually force-marched to Stalag XVII-B in advance of the Allied repatriation of Europe. SGT Lang survived. His experiences contrast with the life he left behind in the United States. Food, clothing, sleeping arrangements, contact with loved ones, access to news of the world outside the camps, and numerous other life details were drastically changed. Lang gives us a detailed look at how deeply we are affected by the deprivation of the liberty to move about freely.
Lang joined countless others in combat during Word War II. He saw the thrill of successful missions and the agony of lost comrades. But after surviving the destruction of his bomber over North Africa, his journey to the Stalags wound through mostly untouched Europe, as a patient of the Third Reich to treat his extensive burns and other injuries. After entering Stalag VII-A he joined the news vacuum of the POW camp, witnessing glimpses here and there of the changing faces of the war and the countries involved. When they vacated the physical camp and marched, it was into a mixed country side of impoverished populace and devastated capital. As a witness of the horrors and devastation of war Lang could wonder at the extreme change he had witnessed. The world was forever changed; and so was he.
Lang joined countless others in combat during Word War II. He saw the thrill of successful missions and the agony of lost comrades. But after surviving the destruction of his bomber over North Africa, his journey to the Stalags wound through mostly untouched Europe, as a patient of the Third Reich to treat his extensive burns and other injuries. After entering Stalag VII-A he joined the news vacuum of the POW camp, witnessing glimpses here and there of the changing faces of the war and the countries involved. When they vacated the physical camp and marched, it was into a mixed country side of impoverished populace and devastated capital. As a witness of the horrors and devastation of war Lang could wonder at the extreme change he had witnessed. The world was forever changed; and so was he.
