cover image: A Letter from Frank : The Second World War Through the Eyes of a Canadian Soldier and a German Paratrooper

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A Letter from Frank : The Second World War Through the Eyes of a Canadian Soldier and a German Paratrooper

20 Sep 2011

On the last day of the Second World War, Frank and Russ fought each other. In the days after, they became friends.

This is the remarkable tale of a long-forgotten letter. It was written from Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War to a Canadian in a peaceful Southern Ontario town. Both had been soldiers and had met on a German battlefield. The letter lay unseen for years and was found by the Canadian’s son long after the old soldier’s death. This book tells how that faded letter led to the discovery of the one-time German paratrooper who became his father’s friend in the immediate aftermath of the war.

A Letter from Frank is part war story and part biography, following the lives of Russ Colombo, the Canadian soldier, and Frank Sikora, the German paratrooper. One grew up during the Depression in Ontario, the other was a German in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. This non-fiction narrative also chronicles author Stephen J. Colombo’s struggle to come to terms with a father haunted by the war. Their recollections provide insights into the events that shaped the generations that forged a modern Canada and rebuilt Germany after its near-total devastation. In a surprising twist, this book also provides previously unknown historical details of later NHL president Clarence Campbell at war (Campbell was Russ Colombo’s commanding officer).

canada germany biography soldiers veterans correspondence world war, 1939-1945 personal narratives, german personal narratives, canadian 1916-1986 colombo, russ, 1924- sikora, frank,

Authors

Stephen J. Colombo

Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-255)
Control Number Identifier
CaOOCEL
Dewey Decimal Classification Number
940.54/8171
Dewey Decimal Edition Number
22
General Note
Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
Geographic Area Code
e-gx---
ISBN
9781554889686 9781459700888
LCCN
D811
LCCN Item number
C65 2011eb
Modifying agency
CaBNVSL
Original cataloging agency
CaOONL
Physical Description | Extent
1 electronic text (260 p.)
Published in
Canada
Publisher or Distributor Number
CaOOCEL
Rights
Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
System Control Number
(CaBNVSL)slc00227722 (OCoLC)726556276 (CaOOCEL)439929
System Details Note
Mode of access: World Wide Web
Transcribing agency
CaOONL

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