Left for Dead at Nijmegen: The True Story of an American Paratrooper in World War II

by Marcus A. Nannini

This WWII biography chronicles an American paratrooper's harrowing role in Operation Market Garden and his heroic survival as a POW.

During World War II, Gene Metcalfe served in the 82nd Airborne. After his recruitment into the military at Camp Grant, he trained with the 501st Paratroop Infantry Regiment at Camp Toccoa. It wasn't until D-Day that he first arrived in England to join the 508th PIR.

On September 17th, 1944, the 508th PIR embarked on Operation Market Garden to establish a salient in the Netherlands. Flying over Groesbeek Heights, just outside of Nijmegen, Holland, Metcalfe was among the first to jump into what swas thought to be an empty meadow. Instead, it was defended by German antiaircraft cannons.

As he jumped into a hail of bullets he watched his plane roll over and plummet into the ground. Badly injured by a shell explosion, Gene was listed as Killed In Action and left for dead by his patrol. He became a POW held outside Munich, moved between various dieses-ridden camps. After a nearly successful escape attempt--he was captured within sight of the Swiss mountains--Gene was liberated by American troops in 1945.

Genres: War, History, Memoir, World War II, Military Fiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2019

Reviews

[Brittain *Needs a Nap and a Drink*]

[Duke Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a friend on fb share a link about this book so I looked it up. Ordered from a site in the UK and it came about a week later. There were times I thought for sure the hero, Gene, would wind up dead. Even though the title tells me there is going to be something bad happening at Nijmegen...a name I was familiar with because i am a fan of the movie A BRIDGE TOO FAR...the Nijmegen event was just the start of a series of absolutely hair raising incidents.
Then there is the fact the story moves from brutal to funny to brutal, in a few blinks of an eye, makes me wonder how the heck Gene can still smile. He is a man I would love to meet.
The pacing was perfect and putting it down was hard. Suggestion to readers: When you reach the Market Garden chapter look at the clock and decide if you have the time to read another 150 pages because if you don't have the time, you will find yourself wishing you had.
This is one of the best WW2 stories I ever read and cannot even imagine what the author did to place me, the reader, so firmly into Gene's boots. Hats off!

[Carrie Rosenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandpa was a POW for years during WWII. He very rarely talked about it. After reading this book and learning about Gene Metcalfe’s experience as a POW, I can understand why my grandpa chose to leave those memories as far behind him as he could. While his first hand experience is hard to swallow, this was a fascinating read. Fun fact- my mother in law gifted me this book after meeting Gene Metcalfe during an Honor Trip to Washington DC with Gene and a dozen other veterans!

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've know Gene Metcalf, the subject of this book, for years, but I had no idea of what he went through in World War Ii. Like so many veterans, he has gone on with an interesting life and does not dwell in the past. The stories come out, though, when veterans gather.

This is an amazing adventure story - in the short timespan the book covers, two and half years between November 1942 until shortly after World War II ended in 1945, Gene has more extraordinary experiences that most people have in a lifetime. As just a partial list, he parachuted into enemy-controlled territory, was injured and left for dead, was interrogated by the evil Nazi leader Himmler, became a prisoner of war, tried to escape, and skirted death numerous times. He saved at least one life, and probably many others.

The author, Marcus A. Nannini, has done a remarkable job of researching, interviewing and pulling so many details in a very readable, exciting true tale of a real-life hero.

[C. G. Telcontar · Rating 2 out of 5]

American POWs experiences in Germany in WW2 are largely unknown to me in any detail aside from one earlier bio I read this year. Gene Metcalf certainly went through it in Stalag VII A in a town named Moosburg, southern Germany, close to Munich. The largest POW camp the Germans had, it could hold about 100,000 men. Metcalf was starved as were the prisoners of every nation in the camp, the Russians getting the worst of it, naturally. According to Metcalf, there were occasionally selections among the Russian prisoners and some were immediately shot, others sent into an open area confinement where they were not fed at all, left to die. The official stats say about 1000 men died there in total through the whole of the camp's operation and also according to him, many, many Americans died from starvation and other ailments there. But that's the core issue with the book in a nutshell -- exaggerations piled up one upon another and one highly questionable incident. Granted that by the time he was being interviewed by the author to put this book together the man was of advanced age and had been telling his tale for decades and perhaps, just perhaps, the story grew in the telling, as Tolkien once said of a certain tale of his.

I'm confused about how to really assess this man's story; I just can't take it all at face value and say yep, it's all real. I think about how careful Laura Hillenbrand was with her bio of Louie Zamperini and the two efforts just don't compare. This author, Nannini, is an unknown quantity to me but it certainly has the tone of a chronicler/biographer not pressing for details or checking for authenticity. If I were new to WW2 reading or just saw this title in a bookstore knowing nothing about the war but the blurb intrigued me, it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary, or out of the realm of possibility that all the events described occurred just as they appear on the page. However, that's not the case and it certainly has the feel of someone stretching matters to the breaking point, several times over.

I'd have to do a lot of cross checking to go yea or nay on this definitively as a truly nonfiction book. If Reader Discretion Labels for suspect nonfiction history books was a thing, this book would certainly merit that sticker on its cover.

[Books Shelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Left for Dead at Nijmegen: The True Story of an American Paratrooper in World War II by Marcus A. Nannini is one of the most interesting biographies I've read in a long time. The writing style is great, the stories...oh, man! From the brutal details to the laughter and jokes, I enjoyed every bit of it. Usually, I rarely read war stories or biographies but this one got my attention from the beginning and kept me engaged till the very end.

[Braden]

Notable job of preserving the history of a young American during WWII in pursuit of becoming an airborne soldier and subsequently a POW. Quite an interesting story after being freed…

*In September 2025, I happened to be on a commercial flight with three WWII vets returning from Europe. One of the vets was 102 and, as I understood it, was the last living airborne soldier from WWII. This book is about Eugene Metcalfe. He was ‘soon’ to be 103 years old.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good memoir. Do not expect action - while there is some this is a story of a man who barely survives every encounter until his capture.

Read this to see the inglorious side of war. The forgotten allied prisoners of WW2. Not many memoirs feature imprisonment. Reading this it’s not hard to see why.

[Robert Warren]

Great book...Well written,not booring,keeps moving along

Very interesting book unbelievable experiences action kept moving not the least bit boring very well written
It truly was The Greatest
generation

[Geoffrey Roberson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read

If you like WWII history,this is a must read. What happened to him and that he lived through them are nothing short of amazing! My parents were both in WWII and didn’t talk about what they saw.

[Darcie Calise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book about a WWII POW. It's good to know he is still alive and a friend of my dad's.

[Esther Dushinsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

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