Tragedy at Graignes
Subtitle: the Bud Sophian story
By: Margaret R. O'Leary, Dennis S. O'Leary
Contributors: O'Leary, Dennis S.
Publisher: Iuniverse Inc.
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Bloomington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 360
ISBN-13: 9781450283298; 9781450283304
Subjects: Prisoners of war; German Prisoners and prisons; Campaigns; World War (1939-1945) fast (OCoLC)fst01180924; Biography; World War, 1939-1945; Soldiers; Military campaigns; Armed Forces
Description: The story of Captain Bud Sophian, the only US Army officer who did not flee Graignes, France, as the Waffen SS overran the American positions and stormed the village. Sophian was a surgeon, and he refused to abandon the fourteen wounded paratroopers in his care. He surrendered by waving a white flag at the door of the badly shelled Norman church where his aid station was located. He hoped for fair prisoner treatment in accordance with the Geneva Convention of 1929. The German troops instead committed unspeakable atrocities, leaving many of the American prisoners mutilated in grotesque heaps. All of the American prisoners, including Sophian, were killed.  Captain Sophian's judgment and actions in the US Army were the culmination of the rich and challenging life he led prior to the Second World War. Bud's correspondence with his sister and other Sophian archival materials tell the story of this compelling life. These letters are reproduced verbatim in "Tragedy at Graignes: The Bud Sophian Story" so that Bud and other authors may speak directly to you and to the historical record.