Award-winning "Stories from the Second World War" Featured in New Book

July 28, 2011 - PRLog -- Tom Swope has interviewed more than 425 veterans of World War II -- for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, and for his own, award-winning radio series LEGACIES: Stories from the Second World War.

After receiving many requests for a book of these stories, he chose eighteen of the best ones and published them in April, 2010, under the same title. Now, after two printings of the First Edition of the book, Swope has released a Second Edition of LEGACIES: Stories from the Second World War.

This edition is available in print through CreateSpace.com ( at https://www.createspace.com/3581583 ) and in PDF through HamakuaPublishing.net ( at http://hamakuapublishing.net/eBOOKS/buy-LEGACIES.php ).

One of the main reasons for Swope's interest in the stories of WW II veterans was his father, Clarence Swope. As a U.S. Army infantryman in the War, Clarence was captured and held prisoner for five months by the Germans. Despite Army regulations to the contrary, Clarence kept a diary of his wartime experiences, and one of the most touching stories in the book is from his diary -- his account of five months as a P.O.W.

Other stories are told by survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, Iwo Jima, D-Day, Guadalcanal, Okinawa; and by Army nurses in Europe and the Pacific, an Army medic, a fighter pilot, a tail gunner, and others -- all of whom were swept up by the War and propelled through adventures they could never have imagined.

One of the most impressive things in all these stories is the down-to-earth, understated way in which even the most horrendous experiences are described. It seems that the ability of simply accepting them in this understated way -- and even finding humor in the darkest of situations -- may have been a crucial element in surviving them. And it really puts into perspective the frivolous and hyperbolic nature and the shallowness of our present-day culture.

LEGACIES: Stories from the Second World War (Compiled and Edited by Tom Swope / Radio Stew Press / Cleveland, Ohio / 187 pages) is now available at https://www.createspace.com/3581583 and will be in major bookstores soon. An autographed copy, plus a free CD of one of the award-winning LEGACIES radio programs, can be had by emailing Tom Swope / swopetunes(AT)juno(DOT)com.

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About HaMaKuA Publishing:
HaMaKuA Publishing is a publisher of ebooks, and will soon issue its first print books. "Hamakua" means "Breath of God."