Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Survival: Diary of an American POW in World War II

Rate this book
This is a story of an American POW taken from his memories, his fellow POW's recollections, and a secret diary that he kept in the margins of his Bible. It is a gut-renching tale of how these infantrymen kept hope alive through terror, lonliness, filth and the shattering of their pride.

Years later, a package would arrive for Sam Higgins in the summer of 1955. It would be sent by a business associate who had recently visited Stalag IXB in the mountains near Bad Orb, Germany -- the place Higgins had been taken as a POW in WW II. For him, the recollections, the pictures brought back were too much. The package would remain unexamined.

Upon the insistence of his family, Higgins would eventually go back to this dark place. He was a Browning automatic rifleman in an infantry company overrun by a battle-hardened SS Waffen German division. With its sub-zero temperatures, winter in the Alsace Mountains of France was unbearable. After five days of fighting, the company would find itself surrounded without a way out.

Once captured, Higgins would be harassed, interrogated, and forced to walk for three days through the icy terrain to a 10 by 33 foot cattle car that would take him and 80 other POWs to the infamous Stalag IXB.

227 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2000

2 people are currently reading
5 people want to read

About the author

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1 (50%)
4 stars
1 (50%)
3 stars
0 (0%)
2 stars
0 (0%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Displaying 1 of 1 review

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.