Sitting It Out: A World War II Pow Memoir

by David Westheimer

In 1941 Westheimer was in a B-24 that ditched off the coast of Italy. It was the first American plane to be lost over Italy in the early days of WW2. Behind enemy lines, the author & 6 other survivors were taken to a camp at Poggio Mirteto before being assigned to another Italian POW camp. After 9 months in captivity, the prisoners had a brief brush with freedom. Retaken by advancing Germans before they could escape, they were transported through the Alps, to Stalag Luft III. Westheimer spent 19 more months in German hands before he was finally liberated by American troops on April 29, 1945. Westheimer wrote this book shortly after his release. Photos.

358 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

David Westheimer was a novelist best-known for his for his 1964 novel Von Ryan's Express, which was based in part upon his experiences as a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany during World War II.

Ironically, one of his most popular novels, and perhaps his most enduring, was not credited to him for much of its shelf life: In its original printing, he was by-lined as the author of the novelization of Days of Wine and Roses based on the screenplay by his friend J.P. Miller. However the book proved hugely popular and the story had become so iconic that its publisher Bantam Books (and one supposes the authors, by mutual arrangement) took Westheimer's name off the book to move it into the "literature" category and keep it in print (which they did, for decades). Subsequent printings were branded only J.P. Miller's Days of Wine and Roses without an explicit by-line for the novel.

Westheimer, a Rice University graduate, worked as an assistant editor for the Houston Post from 1939 to 1946 except for those years spent with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. As a navigator in a B-24 he was shot down over Italy on December 11, 1942 and spent time as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have ever read or heard of for getting a real sense of what it was like in a prison camp.