"My Father's Secret War"

"My Father's Secret War," is a memoir by Pulitzer Prize Winner, Lucinda Franks. The book is a memoir of her relationship with her father, Tom Franks, her journey to find out about his secret work in the military during WWII, and dealing with his alzheimers.

One day while she was helping clean up his apartment, she found a Nazi Gestapo cap with the skull and crossbones pin. She started asking questions.

Her father, it turned out, had been a spy. He set up radars in the Pacific, and was sent to the first death camp the U.S. liberated two days afterward, Ordruff (sp?). War damages folks, and the war damanged this man with all he had seen and done.

He also trained some of the Danish resistance, being extremely impressed with the women because they could learn weapons far quicker than the men.

Lucinda does so much for so many years to find out what her father had done. At one point, she finds out that her father had killed one of his friends, assassinated him. His friend turned out to be a double agent, also spying for the Russians. This really upset her, but I have a tendency to understand her fathers decision. Folks work in patterns. It would only be matter of time before that fellas turncoat activities got his comrades or other folks killed.

I didn't like all the prodding Lucinda did of her father at first. I have had my own negative experiences prodding vets for information about wars in the past. By the end, however, I completely understand why she did it, and I think they both benefitted from her persistence.

It is an excellent read, and probably far more details about WWII spying than you will get anywhere else. Also a great description of intergenerational wartime PTSD. Her father, prior to the war, was happy and friendly, afterward, far less joyful much more serious.

If you don't listen to it on CD, as I did, I highly reccomend that you read it.