On June 8, 1944, twenty-year-old Harold Frank had moved as one with his battalion onto the marshy shores of Utah Beach, pushing through the D-Day invasion to begin a months-long blockade of the pivotal Nazi port city of Certbourg. As the last experienced BAR Rifleman in the 357th infantry, he was tasked with leading a dangerous night patrol to rescue two lost U.S. Infantry companies before being ambushed in a deadly, nine-hour fight by the German 15th Parachute division. Now, he was alone. Trapped in a brutal Nazi POW camp, exposed to the vengance of the rapidly advancing Russian Military, and in the flight path of thousands of allied bombers racing towards the neighborhing city of Dresden. Would Harold escape to freedom alive?
In
The Last of the 357th Infantry, historian Mark Hager builds on dozens of hours of interviews with Frank, sharing an intimate and heart-pounding account of his journey as a child of the Great Depression to the bloody shores of the D-Day invasion. Thrilling and deeply personal,
The Last of the 357th Infantry is a must-read account of survival, escape, and unconquerable faith that belongs on the shelf of every student of WWII.
