The Flame Keepers: The True Story of an American Soldier's Survival Inside Stalag 17 [Hardcover]

Ned Handy (Author), Kemp Battle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2004

ed Handy was captured by Germans in April 1944, after his B-24 was shot down. Sent to Stalag 17, the infamous Nazi prison camp, Handy soon led an escape team determined to tunnel to freedom. Along with the unforgettable comrades he vividly describes, Handy worked relentlessly for months on a tunnel that was to prove instrumental in saving the lives of four fugitives sought by the Gestapo. One of those fugitives would become the only American ever to escape permanently from Stalag 17. The Flame Keepers is a vivid first-hand account of an American soldier's experience as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany and a poignant portrait of the POWs who worked to survive within the wire and their German captors. Illustrated with original photographs taken inside the camp from a smuggled camera and published for the first time in the trade press, The Flame Keepers recounts one of World War II's great untold stories.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Every citizen should read this book to understand the sacrifices our prisoners of war made for our freedom."--Ross Perot

"Deserves a permanent place in the whole collective telling of the Last Big War."
--Samuel Hynes, author of The Soldiers' Tale: Bearing Witness to Modern War

"This wonderful book has stirred me more profoundly than any other World War II memoir I have read."--George McGovern, former Senator and World War II B-24 pilot

"A powerful and moving story, brilliantly told…non-stop reading."
--Elaine Pagels, author of Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

SHOT OUT OF THE SKY BY GERMAN FIGHTER PLANES…
In the Spring of 1944, Ned Handy's B-24 bomber was shot down on a mission into Germany. Handy and his fellow survivors were sent to Stalag 17, a crowded, disease-ridden POW camp that held thousands of Allied soldiers and operated by its own cruel rules.

AND PLUNGED INTO A WORLD OF MISERY AND COURAGE…
From the beginning, Handy set out to escape, relentlessly digging a tunnel underneath a barracks. As he dug, Handy forged friendships and uneasy alliances, survived Gestapo searches and a vicious beating, helped save the lives of wanted men and befriended a German guard. When the moment came for Handy to escape, fate would intervene as he and his fellow prisoners began a brutal march West--towards freedom or death....

ONE MAN WOULD WIN A WAR OF HIS OWN
This is a powerful, moving memoir of an ordeal that brought out the best and the worst in men. A must-read for World II buffs and anyone interested in the true nature of war, The Flame Keepers is a story of suffering, camaraderie, horror and survival--and one young man's awakening to the power of humanity itself.

"[A] rewarding experience."
--Washington Post

"Handy's amazing story reads like an impossible-to-put-down thriller."
--Book-of-the-Month News

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First edition/Full number line edition (June 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868791
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868797
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > History > Military > Prisoners of War

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reading it was like Dad telling me about the whole ordeal, August 15, 2007

By 

Dennis (New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Flame Keepers (Mass Market Paperback)

My Dad was a POW in Stalag 17 during the same period of time as Handy. Dad had a hard time of it and it really was difficult for him to talk much about it. I now know that it would have been much better for him, and us, if he had been able to talk about it. He died in 2004.

Many of the things he did tell me in bits and pieces over the years about his experiences Handy described also. The Kregie who killed imself by deliberately crossing over 'the wire', the tunneling efforts, the dirt in the rafters, the sawdust bread, the interrogations, solitary, the bunks, the cold, the hunger, the frightened guards, the end in the forest. Lot and lots of pieces of the puzzle.

Dad was a most devout Catholic and, as it turned out, the only prisoner in camp who had been trained to be an Altar Boy. He gave lessions in Latin to train many other prisoners who were 'getting religion' in those desperate times. Dad described the Christams Mass in great detail, and it was striking to read Handy's account of that sermon. It was erie to read Handy's account of it all and how identical it was to Dad's. It was a very uplifting sermon that Dad and Handy never forgot.

My Mother told me about this book and I ordered it immediatly from Amazon and couldn't put it down until I had read all the way through. It was as if Dad was sitting in the room and describing the whole horror, step by step, and in chronological sequence for the first time which enabled me to put it all together for the first time. Now I have an even deeper understanding and appreciation for what Dad had endured, and how tragic his ongoing suffering had been, what it meant for his life, how much he had sacrificed, not only for those 16 months as a POW - but throughout the remainder of his life. I also got some insights regarding how it impacted mine life and my family's. I wish Dad could have read it him self 50 years ago. Thanks, Ned for getting it out for all of us to understand.

If you have any POWs in your immediate family, especially if that POW is or was your father - or you were a POW and you have children, I would say that this is required reading.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memory and immediacy in prison-camp survival, June 22, 2004

By 

Sylvia Bowman (Port Townsend,, WA. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Flame Keepers: The True Story of an American Soldier's Survival Inside Stalag 17 (Hardcover)

The Flame Keepers gives more than a good story. It sets up a counterpoint of the men's reflections on home-life, their daily confrontations with danger in the camp, and the reflections of the young Ned Handy growing older, lonlier, and self-reliant in order to survive. A deep perspective on the character of the USA in the 40s and the nature of men in desperate circumstances. This book is a keeper. Worth passing around to friends, rereading for yourself.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Tale of Successful Ingenuity, Perseverance, Courage, August 3, 2005

By 

Harriet Chapman (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Flame Keepers: The True Story of an American Soldier's Survival Inside Stalag 17 (Hardcover)

It is not hyperbole to say that The Flame Keepers is an excellent, well-paced book that will captivate readers of all ages and backgrounds - from teens to seasoned citizens. Not only about World War II, or even strictly a "war story," the book covers the effects on human behavior of war, imprisonment and defiance of one's enemies -- all well beyond the armored battles that raged.

Author and protagonist Ned Handy tells the unvarnished story through his eyes of a network of men and comrades-at-arms whose sudden imprisonment brought out their individual and collective ingenuity, bravery, stamina and perseverance in ways they could not have imagined. These qualities possessed by so many "ordinary" sergeants came to the fore when they faced the stark choice of surviving or giving up behind a wire, while watched by armed guards, deep in enemy territory, and in spite of brutal weather and a starvation diet. The incredible story of a brash and brilliantly conceived escape attempt from Stalag Luft XVII-B plays a major part in the narrative, and it is spell-binding.

Mr. Handy employs simple but eloquent language that takes the reader on a hard-to-put-down journey through five seasons in the life of a 21-year-old B-24 flight engineer and top turret gunner, who survives a shoot-down only to be imprisoned in infamous Stalag XVII-B. Events inside Stalag 17 are interwoven with interesting vignettes that bring to life Mr. Handy's memories of home, family and early life, which inform his ability to survive the prison ordeal. He ascribes well-deserved credit to his colleagues, from his crewmates to POWs with whom he lived in extremely close quarters for more than a year. He describes how each POW used the talents he had to their utmost, such that they were able to survive, defy the enemy at times, and create a vital internal safety net for their fellows when it mattered most. For a man imprisoned and isolated for a time due to circumstances that are movingly presented in the text, Mr. Handy presents a fair-minded view of the individual human beings behind the generic descriptors, "soldier," "prisoner," "enemy," "guard," and "civilian."

It is easy to get "lost" while reading this book, and is a challenge to return, during the intervals one puts it down, to the regular and occasionally mundane tasks of everyday living. For it is the ability to do these tasks, and to take advantage of all the small and large freedoms we have today, that was denied the prisoners of war like Mr. Handy and those whom he describes so vividly. And although the author doesn't indulge in self-praise, the reader cannot help but thank God for stalwart men like Mr. Handy and his comrades, who sacrificed so much for the liberty and prosperity we all enjoy today. It's a must-read for all ages.