Published to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, an unforgettable
never-before-told first-person account of World War II: the true story
of an American paratrooper who survived D-Day, was captured and
imprisoned in a Nazi work camp, and made a daring escape to freedom.
Now at 95, one of the few living members of the Greatest Generation
shares his experiences at last in one of the most remarkable World War
II stories ever told. As the Allied Invasion of Normandy launched in the
pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, Henry Langrehr, an American paratrooper
with the 82nd Airborne, was among the thousands of Allies who parachuted
into occupied France. Surviving heavy anti-aircraft fire, he crashed
through the glass roof of a greenhouse in Sainte-Mère-Église. While many
of the soldiers in his unit died, Henry and other surviving troops
valiantly battled enemy tanks to a standstill. Then, on June 29th, Henry
was captured by the Nazis. The next phase of his incredible journey was
beginning.
Kept for a week in the outer ring of a death camp, Henry witnessed the
Nazis' unspeakable brutality--the so-called Final Solution, with people
marched to their deaths, their bodies discarded like cords of wood.
Transported to a work camp, he endured horrors of his own when he was
forced to live in unbelievable squalor and labor in a coal mine with
other POWs. Knowing they would be worked to death, he and a friend made
a desperate escape. When a German soldier cornered them in a barn, the
friend was fatally shot; Henry struggled with the soldier, killing him
and taking his gun. Perilously traveling westward toward Allied
controlled land on foot, Henry faced the great ethical and moral
dilemmas of war firsthand, needing to do whatever it took to survive.
Finally, after two weeks behind enemy lines, he found an American unit
and was rescued.
Awaiting him at home was Arlene, who, like millions of other American
women, went to work in factories and offices to build the armaments
Henry and the Allies needed for victory. Whatever It Took is her
story, too, bringing to life the hopes and fears of those on the
homefront awaiting their loved ones to return.
A tale of heroism, hope, and survival featuring 30 photographs,
Whatever It Took is a timely reminder of the human cost of freedom and
a tribute to unbreakable human courage and spirit in the darkest of
times.
