Incredible Tale of Successful Ingenuity, Perseverance, Courage | The Flame Keepers

Up Close and Personal View of Stalag 17 | The Flame Keepers | Ned Handy, Kemp Battle

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	• The Flame Keepers Ned Handy, Kemp Battle St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Reading it was like Dad telling me about the whole ordeal

My Dad was a POW in Stalag 17 during the same period of time as Handy. Dad had a hard time of it and it really was difficult for him to talk much about it. I now know that it would have been much better for him, and us, if he had been able to talk about it. He died in 2004.

Many of the things he did tell me in bits and pieces over the years about his experiences Handy described also. The Kregie who killed imself by deliberately crossing over 'the wire', the tunneling efforts, the dirt in the rafters, the sawdust bread, the interrogations, solitary, the bunks, the cold, the hunger, the frightened guards, the end in the forest. Lot and lots of pieces of the puzzle.

Dad was a most devout Catholic and, as it turned out, the only prisoner in camp who had been trained to be an Altar Boy. He gave lessions in Latin to train many other prisoners who were 'getting religion' in those desperate times. Dad described the Christams Mass in great detail, and it was striking to read Handy's account of that sermon. It was erie to read Handy's account of it all and how identical it was to Dad's. It was a very uplifting sermon that Dad and Handy never forgot.

My Mother told me about this book and I ordered it immediatly from Amazon and couldn't put it down until I had read all the way through. It was as if Dad was sitting in the room and describing the whole horror, step by step, and in chronological sequence for the first time which enabled me to put it all together for the first time. Now I have an even deeper understanding and appreciation for what Dad had endured, and how tragic his ongoing suffering had been, what it meant for his life, how much he had sacrificed, not only for those 16 months as a POW - but throughout the remainder of his life. I also got some insights regarding how it impacted mine life and my family's. I wish Dad could have read it him self 50 years ago. Thanks, Ned for getting it out for all of us to understand.

If you have any POWs in your immediate family, especially if that POW is or was your father - or you were a POW and you have children, I would say that this is required reading.

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Incredible Tale of Successful Ingenuity, Perseverance, Courage

It is not hyperbole to say that The Flame Keepers is an excellent, well-paced book that will captivate readers of all ages and backgrounds - from teens to seasoned citizens. Not only about World War II, or even strictly a "war story," the book covers the effects on human behavior of war, imprisonment and defiance of one's enemies -- all well beyond the armored battles that raged.

Author and protagonist Ned Handy tells the unvarnished story through his eyes of a network of men and comrades-at-arms whose sudden imprisonment brought out their individual and collective ingenuity, bravery, stamina and perseverance in ways they could not have imagined. These qualities possessed by so many "ordinary" sergeants came to the fore when they faced the stark choice of surviving or giving up behind a wire, while watched by armed guards, deep in enemy territory, and in spite of brutal weather and a starvation diet. The incredible story of a brash and brilliantly conceived escape attempt from Stalag Luft XVII-B plays a major part in the narrative, and it is spell-binding.

Mr. Handy employs simple but eloquent language that takes the reader on a hard-to-put-down journey through five seasons in the life of a 21-year-old B-24 flight engineer and top turret gunner, who survives a shoot-down only to be imprisoned in infamous Stalag XVII-B. Events inside Stalag 17 are interwoven with interesting vignettes that bring to life Mr. Handy's memories of home, family and early life, which inform his ability to survive the prison ordeal. He ascribes well-deserved credit to his colleagues, from his crewmates to POWs with whom he lived in extremely close quarters for more than a year. He describes how each POW used the talents he had to their utmost, such that they were able to survive, defy the enemy at times, and create a vital internal safety net for their fellows when it mattered most. For a man imprisoned and isolated for a time due to circumstances that are movingly presented in the text, Mr. Handy presents a fair-minded view of the individual human beings behind the generic descriptors, "soldier," "prisoner," "enemy," "guard," and "civilian."

It is easy to get "lost" while reading this book, and is a challenge to return, during the intervals one puts it down, to the regular and occasionally mundane tasks of everyday living. For it is the ability to do these tasks, and to take advantage of all the small and large freedoms we have today, that was denied the prisoners of war like Mr. Handy and those whom he describes so vividly. And although the author doesn't indulge in self-praise, the reader cannot help but thank God for stalwart men like Mr. Handy and his comrades, who sacrificed so much for the liberty and prosperity we all enjoy today. It's a must-read for all ages.

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Up Close and Personal View of Stalag 17

I am a WWII buff as I know had it not been for those who served we would not be here. So reading and appreciating those sacrifices is paramount to me.
I found this book "disturbing" (in a good way) in that the book literally took the reader inside the walls of Stalag 17.
It was a fearful experience and filled me with dread and agony for those who lived through that experience.
Some of the material mirrows what the movie "Stalag 17" depicted but certainly not with the Hollywood context of stalag life.
Ned Handy is one of countless heros who served all of us. God bless them, each and every one.
This is a book to cherish and help us understand the horror of war and the sacrifices of so many.

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A worthy read

Loved this book. It grabbed my attention from the very start and never let it drift...housework and commitments be damned! Knowing it was a true story made it all the more gripping. I highly recommend it.

A true and accurate account

One of the heroes in this book, Gene Meese, is a friend of mine. He no longer talks much about his war experiences but he does say that Ned Handy tells the story with great accuracy. Oh, sure, much was omitted -- some of it quite bad -- but the core and substance is there and treated well.

Knowing Gene and reading the book deepened my appreciation for all the terror our troops, past and present, have endured for our country.

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In the Spring of 1944, Ned Handy?s B-24 bomber was shot down on a mission into Germany. Handy and his fellow survivors were sent to Stalag 17, a crowded, disease-ridden POW camp that held thousands of Allied soldiers and operated by its own cruel rules.

From the beginning, Handy set out to escape, relentlessly digging a tunnel underneath a barracks. As he dug, Handy forged friendships and uneasy alliances, survived Gestapo searches and a vicious beating, helped save the lives of wanted men and befriended a German guard. When the moment came for Handy to escape, fate would intervene as he and his fellow prisoners began a brutal march West?towards freedom or death....

This is a powerful, moving memoir of an ordeal that brought out the best and the worst in men. A must-read for World II buffs and anyone interested in the true nature of war, The Flame Keepers is a story of suffering, camaraderie, horror and survival?and one young man?s awakening to the power of humanity itself.

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