There is no book about WWII like this book or any book in the annals of history. The stories are "un-edited" handwritten or typed actual experiences by a regiment of Glidermen who landed in North Africa and fought in every major battle in Europe. This is not oral history where a professional editor writes the story and makes sure that litigation will not follow. It is the story by the men who fought the battles, in their own words. Unedited! For good or bad - it is their story! It is from the heart and the trail they wish to leave behind.
Father Thuring, Groesbeek, Holland, author of "The Roll of Honor" of the 82nd Airborne Division WWII, authors the final chapter in "Glide to Glory." A complete day-by-day account of each combat action for the 325 Glider Infantry Regiment is given, along with each soldier (748) killed in action or in the line of duty is in this book. Date of death, place, first burial, final burial is located in this book. History more or less goes to the grave site! Many of the photographs are out of the Liberation Museum, Groesbeek, Holland. If you lost a kin or a friend while in the service of the 325 Glider Infantry, you can locate him in the book.
The members of the 325 Glider Infantry Association know the author as he also writes as the associate editor of their newspaper. He was also a member of the honor guard that met the first shipment of 6,251 war dead from Europe. In this shipment was the unknown soldier of World War II.
In this book, you will read the story of a battalion commander at Normandy, several company commanders, the arrival by glider of Senator Strom Thurmond with Captain Joe Shealy, arrival of the first graves administrator for burying the dead at Normandy and how the bodies were processed, the charge across Utah Beach by Col. Raff and Lu Young as 325/401 Infantry, a seasoned glider pilot and a pilot, what army historians printed and how the story about the Le Fiere causeway at Normandy differs from recorded history, a doctor who worked to save his wounded men, a medic in combat, those that could not talk about the war until years later, Captain Ko who took a chapter in "The Greatest Generation", a daughter who never knew her father, a love story by an English war bride, the German wolf packs on the trip to England across the Atlantic, the First Sgt. of Berlin's Honor Guard, and many more interesting stories including the liberation of the Webbelin Concentration Camp. Some of real combat and some that are just plain humor. Some will make you cry and some that will make you laugh. Once you read this book, you will talk about it and think about it for years to come.
As the author and also a "Gliderman", I feel that this book will be part of the required reading someday in school classrooms. Gliders only existed for a few short years from 1943 until 1947 and never before and never again will ring forever. These glidermen were one tough bunch who fought hard and gave their country all they could so you could live in freedom. The book is not fiction. These "Glidermen" are aslo gentlemen!
JERRY LEE RICHLAK, SR., AUTHOR, a gliderman and life member of the American Legion, paid for life member of the 82nd Airborne Division Association and the 325 Glider Infantry Association and the 504th Parachute Infantry Association, could not have authored this book without the help of the "Glidermen" who served in World War II. Many of the veterans helped in the research that went into this book. Father Thuring of the Liberation Museum, Groesbeek, Holland, contributed freely toward this book with a lifetime of his work and historical research. Travis Hessman and Roger L. Williams of Lakeshore Communications contributed greatly toward the layout and design of this book. Jerry lives east of Cleveland, Ohio, spends part of his summers on Lake Cumberland, Ky., and his winters near Port Charlotte, Florida.
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