'Lost no longer, the American paratroopers who helped to liberate Normandy find a sympathetic chronicler in Stephen G. Rabe. This is micro-history at its most intimate. In granular detail, Rabe recounts the story of how American troops and French villagers rescued Graignes from German occupation. Drawing on deep research and even deeper feeling, the author pays tribute to his veteran father, to a generation, and to enduring ties between two nations bound together by collective sacrifices and shared valor.' Susan Carruthers, author of Dear John: Love and Loyalty in Wartime America
Introduction; 1. Paratrooper; 2. Overseas; 3. Occupied France; 4. Liberators and friends; 5. Days of friendship, hope, and waiting; 6. The longest day in Graignes; 7. Escape, exile, and annihilation; 8. Graignes in historical memory; Afterword.
Stephen G. Rabe is the Ashbel Smith Professor in History (emeritus) at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is a veteran of the US Marine Corps. The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy is his thirteenth book.