In the predawn hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944, which would become immortalized as the Longest Day, Bob Bearden and his comrades in the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped into the inky skies over Normandy. Their mission: defend the west bank of the Merderet River against German counterattack. After long months of training they were finally taking the war to the Germans. Beardens time in combat proved shortlived, however, when he was captured on D+2, June 8. This was only the beginning of a new war for his very survival through multiple German POW camps and ultimately on an epic journey that would take him largely on foot all the way to Moscow on his journey home, all of which makes for exciting reading in this remarkable memoir. World War 2 Database , October 2007 “Bob Bearden's To D-Day and Back was not just another paratrooper-themed memoir trying to ride on the success of others. Several distinctions set this work apart from others. Bearden told his story from a very personal angle. Coupled with the use of everyday prose, the book was another one of those works that felt much like storytelling by a member of the family. It was not just another war memoir, but rather, the book told how the war interacted with Bearden's life. “Bearden also had the unfortunate experience of becoming a German prisoner of war merely two days after he jumped into Normandy, France. He faithfully recorded his observations while it came, amidst braving malnutrition and the cold winter. While other authors told the horrors of war through descriptions of exploding shells and flying shrapnel, Bearden completed the picture by telling the horrors of war through experiences of being imprisoned by the Germans … Indeed, his WW2 experience was a unique and remarkable adventure, recorded in captivating detail in To D-Day and Back .” In the predawn hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944, Bob Bearden and his comrades in the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped into the inky skies over Normandy. Their mission: defend the west bank of the Merderet River against German counterattack. After long months of training they were finally taking the war to the Germans. Bearden s time in combat proved shortlived, however, when he was captured on D-plus-2, June 8. This was only the beginning of a new war for his survival through multiple German POW camps, his so-called liberation by Russian tanker crews more bent on exacting vengeance upon the Germans than safeguarding Allied prisoners, and the perilous journey that followed, mostly on foot, along the sandy, snow-covered roads of Germany and Poland on the way to Moscow and eventually, back home to Dallas, Texas. From the book: As the camp descended into chaos, one of the grizzliest scenes took place in the IIIC delouser. If you ever had a bath, this was the place where they took your clothes to rid them of lice. It did the job with steam and was a simple room. The Russians started gathering up Germans and forcing them into the delouser, locking the doors, and turning the steam up to max . . . . I heard others say that when they opened the doors of those chambers, the Germans bodies had shrunk to the size of pygmies. I certainly never went over to check the matter out. If further evidence is needed to back up Tom Brokaw s selection of The Greatest Generation, Bob Bearden s rich and candid memoir supplies it a well written saga of a young man s growth and leadership while overcoming more than his share of the tremendous challenges facing the soldiers who defend our freedom. Gen. Robert M. Shoemaker, U.S. Army (Ret.) Bob Bearden s incredible story takes the reader on a journey which will evoke all of the human emotions laughter, sorrow, horror, joy, excitement, terror, and wonder. From his terrifying days of mortal combat in Normandy, to his capture and internment, his daily struggle for survival in POW camps, and his frightening liberation at the hands of the Red Army all reveal how his tough, hardscrabble youth in Depression-era America and his training as a paratrooper gave him the resourcefulness and grim determination to survive. Bearden s insights into daily life in the army and as a POW make this book a must-have addition to the collections of those interested in World War II history. I highly recommend this book. Phil Nordyke, author, All American, All the Way and Four Stars of Valor An amazing saga of a trooper s experience of combat in Normandy and his life as a POW in German stalags. Bearden s unique tale recounts how he was violently liberated by the Russians, then traveled alone through war-ravaged Poland only to end up a POW in Russia again. His journey and eventual escape to Allied control kept me up reading till 2 a.m. Col. Spencer F. Wurst, U.S. Army (Ret.), author, Descending from the Clouds: A Memoir of Combat in the 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Division I ve known Bob Bearden, man and boy, for nearly seventy years, and I was not surprised at the captivati