This memoir of an American POW's harrowing experience as a Nazi prisoner does not leave the reader, as do most books of this genre, wondering how the rest of the writer's life turned out.  Norman Bussel describes with passion, grace, and humor, the entire arc of a life forever changed by fighting for his country; his induction into the United States Army Air Corps at 19, the travails of training to become a member of a B-17 Bomber crew, the minute details of a disastrous final mission over Berlin, internment in camp Stalag Luft IV, and the years struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following his release.

On April 29, 1945, Norman was liberated by General Patton's tank corps, but it quickly became obvious his mind was still held captive by the stressors he endured as a POW. Unthinkable deprivation has lasting effects on a man. Forced to submit to the enemy, he endured solitary confinement, clothes reduced to rags, a hellish winter without shoes, losing 65 pounds, wounds left untreated, lice, and utter hopelessness.  One does not walk away from those circumstances the same person.

Discharged into civilian life, his parents were unable to understand his malaise and he could not talk about it.  Left alone to battle depression, anxiety attacks, and PTSD, he turned to alcohol for release. 

Struggling for the next 20 years to support his wife and two sons, he finally landed an editorial job in New York City.  Though he turned his life around professionally, he still had to fight every day to control his unrelenting, emotional demons. Former POWs, and other combat veterans with PTSD, lead lives of controlled rage.  This is a rage that, over the years, has been disciplined and suppressed. But it still smolders...in constant risk of being reignited.

Baring his soul, exposing personal frailties, giving up old secrets, was the most difficult and painful action of his entire life, yet the author handles these wrenching revelations honestly and passionately. His is an effort to encourage our military returnees from Iraq, who come home saddled with the emotional baggage of their experience, to get their lives back on track by seeking early help.

The result is a deeply moving personal account of a POW's lifelong struggle to set free his captive mind.  It is a haunting memoir that will remain in your thoughts long after you have gently closed the book.