Not Without Honor

This book discusses about inside the infamous Stalag 17. On a cold December day in 1943, Claudio 'Steve' Carano's B-17 bomber was shot down over the Dutch coast on the return flight to England. Thus marked the beginning of his eighteen-month incarceration in Stalag 17 b, the camp made famous in the Billy Wilder film and in the televison show Hogan's Heroes. During his confinement, Carano secretly kept a journal in his Red Cross blank book, filling it with meticulously penned entries and illustrations. It takes the reader deep behind the notorious wire fence surrounding the prison and into the world where men clung to their humanity through humor, faith, camaraderie, daily rituals, and even art. Not Without Honor threads together the stories of three American POWs - Carano; his buddy Bill Blackmon, who was also at Stalag 17 b; and John C. Bitzer, who survived the brutal 'Death March' from northern Germany to liberation in April 1945. At times, the journal reads like a thriller as he records air battles and escape attempts. Yet in their most gripping accounts, these POWs ruminate on psychological survival. The sense of community they formed was instrumental to their endurance. This compelling book allows the reader to journey with these young men as they bore firsthand witness to the best and worst of human nature.