Title: The simple sounds of freedom :
Authors: Taylor, Thomas,
Date: 2002
Publisher: Random House,
Physical description: xvi, 312 p., [16 p. of plates] : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
Language: English
LC classification: U
Abstract: "The Simple Sounds of Freedom, the true story of the first American paratrooper to land in Normandy and the only soldier to fight for both the United States and the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany." "It is a story of battle, followed by a succession of captures, escapes, recaptures, and re-escapes, then battle once more, in the final months of fighting on the Eastern Front. For these unique experiences, both President Bill Clinton and President Boris Yeltsin honored Joe Beyrle on the fiftieth anniversary of V-E Day." "Beyrle did not strive to be a part of history, but history kept visiting him. Twice before the invasion he parachuted into Normandy, bearing gold for the French resistance. D Day resulted in his capture, and he was mistaken for a German line-crosser - a soldier who had, in fact, died in the attempt. Eventually Joe was held under guard at the American embassy in Moscow, suspected of being a Nazi assassin." "Fingerprints saved him, confirming that he'd been wounded five times, and that he bore a safe-conduct pass written by Marshal Zhukov after the Wehrmacht wrested Joe, at gunpoint, from execution by the Gestapo. In the ruins of Warsaw his life was saved again, this time by Polish nuns. Some of Joe's story is in his own words - a voice that will be among the last and best we hear firsthand from World War II."--Jacket.
Contents: The European theater of operations -- Jumpin' Joe -- On both sides of the wall -- D night eve -- Hide-and-seek -- In the orchard -- Highway 13 -- Good cops, bad cops -- Muskegon -- Angels don't speak German -- The stalags -- IV-B -- Market-garden -- A dog and a mole -- Berlin -- Bastogne -- Gestapo versus Wehrmacht -- Americanski Tovarish! -- Back to III-C -- Everyone in hell is grinning -- To Moscow.
Subject headings (LCSH): Beyrle, Joseph Robert.; Beyrle, Joseph.; Soldiers--United States--Biography; United States. Army--Parachute troops--History.; United States. Army. Airborne Division, 101st--History.; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Eastern Front.; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Western Front.; World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German.