Books published by publisher Matthew A. Rozell

How soon we forget. Or perhaps, we were never told. That is understandable, given what they saw. But, it happened. From the book:-'I was talking to a shipmate of mine waiting for the motor launch, and all at once I saw a plane go over our ship. I did not know what it was, but the fellow with me said, 'That's a Jap plane, Jesus!' It went down and dropped a torpedo. Then I saw the Utah turn over.' ~U.S. Navy seaman, Pearl Harbor-'Rage is instantaneous. He's looking at me from a crawling position. I didn't shoot him; I went and kicked him in the head. Rage does funny things. After I kicked him, I shot and killed him.' ~Marine veteran, Battle of Guadalcanal-'Marched to Camp I at Cabanatuan, a distance of six miles, which is the main prison camp here in the Philippines. Food is scarcer now than anytime so far. Fifty men to a bucket of rice!' ~U.S. Army prisoner of war, Corregidor-'They were firing pretty heavily at us...it's rather difficult to fly when you have a rosary in each hand. I took more fellas in with me than I brought home that day, unfortunately.' ~U.S. Navy torpedo bomber pilot, Guadalcanal-'I remember it rained like hell that night, and the water was running down the slope into our foxholes. I had to use my helmet to keep bailing out, you know. Lt. Gower called us together. He said, 'I think we're getting hit with a banzai. We're going to have to pull back.' Holy Jesus, there was howling and screaming! They had naked women, with spears, stark naked!' ~U.S. Army veteran, Saipan-'So I had a hard... two months, I guess. I kept mostly to myself. I wouldn't talk to people. I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do when I got home. How was I going to tell my mother this? You know what I mean?' ~Marine veteran, Battle of Okinawa, on finding out he would be blind for life-'After 3½ years of starvation and brutal treatment, that beautiful symbol of freedom once more flies over our head! Our camp tailor worked all night and finished our first American flag! The blue came from a GI barracks bag, red from a Jap comforter and the white from an Australian bed sheet. When I came out of the barracks and saw those beautiful colors for the first time I felt like crying!' ~U.S. Army prisoner of war, Japan, at war's end-'There was a family that lost two sons in World War II. The family got a telegram on a Monday that one of the boys was killed, and that Thursday they got another telegram saying that his brother had been killed. There were about 35 young men from our town who were killed in World War II, and I knew every one of them; most were good friends of mine.' ~U.S. Navy seaman, Tokyo Bay-'I hope you'll never have to tell a story like this, when you get to be 87. I hope you'll never have to do it.' ~Marine veteran, Iwo JimaAt the height of World War II, LOOK Magazine profiled a small American community for a series of articles portraying it as the wholesome, patriotic model of life on the home front. Decades later, author Matthew Rozell tracks down over thirty survivors who fought the war in the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to the surrender at Tokyo Bay. The book resurrects firsthand accounts of combat and brotherhood, of captivity and redemption, and the aftermath of a war that left no American community unscathed. Here are the stories that the magazine could not tell, from a vanishing generation speaking to America today. It is up to us to remember--for own sakes, as much as theirs.-Featuring over a dozen custom maps and 35 photographs, including never-before published portraits. Extended notes and companion website.

YOU’VE JUST SHOT A GERMAN SOLDIER, and now you have to lay with him as the enemy counterattacks. What do you do when he starts speaking to you, wounded mortally, and tells you in perfect English that he is from Coney Island in Brooklyn, your old stomping grounds? YOU ARE ON THE RUN IN ROME, AN ESCAPED PoW behind enemy lines, on a trolley without papers as the German SS board and demand identification from all, working their way back to you. In civilian clothes, what do you tell your friend next to you when you know you are about to be shot? — “We attacked another hill, and I shot a German soldier. And then the Germans counterattacked on the hill, and I could not escape, so I decided to just lay down on top of that soldier and make believe I’m dead. They passed me by; I got up and this German I shot starts talking to me in English, he says he’s from Coney Island, in Brooklyn; he went to visit his mother in Germany and they put him in the army. And he was dying…” —Infantry scout, North AfricaDying for freedom isn’t the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is. — “The trolley was halted and German SS troops and Italian fascists, climbed aboard. They said, ‘Everyone show their identification cards as we approach you.’ My friend had a false one; I had had my photo taken for one but did not have my card yet because the priest who made them had been caught and shot. I whispered to my fellow escapee, ‘You have a card. There is no sense in both of us getting arrested. Get away from me.’ He didn’t move. There were steel bars on the windows of the trolley and both exits were covered. I was doomed.” —Escaped PoW, on the run in Rome behind enemy linesMaybe our veterans did not volunteer to tell us their stories; perhaps we were too busy with our own lives to ask. But they opened up to a younger generation, when a history teacher taught his students to engage. — “The general said to one of the battalion commanders, ‘I want you to take Riva Ridge tomorrow night. Go out and scout how you’re going to do it. You guys are a bunch of hotshots, you’re skiers and mountain climbers, find a way on top of that ridge!”–10th Mountain Division soldier As we forge ahead as a nation, do we owe it to ourselves to become reacquainted with a generation that is fast leaving us, who asked for nothing but gave everything, to attune ourselves as Americans to a broader appreciation of what we stand for?This is the fourth book in the masterful WWII oral history series, but you can read them in any order. — “We’re going to go into a night attack. You wouldn’t have any contact with each other, and single file, which means if the line breaks, you don’t know where you are. Okay, so much for that. But what about friendly fire? No, you’re going to clear your piece. That’s army talk for you’re going to take all the rounds from your BARs and rifles. Not loaded, so nobody’s going to be shooting. You’re going to know who the enemy is because they’re going to be shooting at you! We never had a training session where we attacked a mountain in the dark with no ammunition!” —10th Mountain Division soldier It's time to listen to them. Read some of the reviews below and REMEMBER how a generation of young Americans truly saved the world. Or maybe it was all for nothing? — “A must-read in every high school in America. It is a very poignant look back at our greatest generation; maybe it will inspire the next one.” Reviewer, Vol. I

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU FEEL when you wake up in a hospital and find out you killed your own mother?JUST WHAT DO YOU DO in that moment when your plane’s been hit, and you are about to crash far from home? — “I spent a lot of time in hospitals. I had a lot of trouble reconciling how my mother died after reading the telegram she opened, saying I was shot down and missing in action; I didn’t explain to her that ‘missing in action’ is not necessarily ‘killed in action’, you know? I didn’t even think about that. How do you think you feel when you find out you killed your own mother?” —B-24 bombardier, shot down, taken prisoner Dying for freedom isn’t the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is. — “I was in the hospital with a flak wound. The next mission, the entire crew was killed. The thing that haunts me is that I can’t put a face to the guy who was a replacement. He was an 18-year old Jewish kid named Henry Vogelstein from Brooklyn. It was his first and last mission. He made his only mission with a crew of strangers.” —B-24 navigator Maybe our veterans did not volunteer to tell us their stories; perhaps we were too busy with our own lives to ask. But they opened up to a younger generation, when a history teacher taught his students to engage. — “The German fighters picked us. I told the guys, ‘Keep your eyes open, we are about to be hit!’ I saw about six or eight feet go off my left wing. I rang the ‘bail-out’ signal, and I reached out and grabbed the co-pilot out of his seat. I felt the airplane climbing, and I thought to myself, ‘If this thing stalls out, and starts falling down backwards, no one is going to get out...’” —B-17 pilot As we forge ahead as a nation, do we owe it to ourselves to become reacquainted with a generation that is fast leaving us, who asked for nothing but gave everything, to attune ourselves as Americans to a broader appreciation of what we stand for?This is the second book in the masterful WWII oral history series, but you can read them in any order. — “You flew with what I would call ‘controlled fear’. You were scared stiff, but it was controlled. My ball turret gunner—he couldn’t take it anymore… I guess he was right. He’s dead now. But he had lost control of the fear. He never got out of that ball turret; he died in that ball turret.” —B-24 bombardier It's time to listen to them. Read some of the reviews below and REMEMBER how a generation of young Americans truly saved the world. Or maybe it was all for nothing? — “A must-read in every high school in America. It is a very poignant look back at our greatest generation; maybe it will inspire the next one.” Reviewer, Vol. I

WHAT DO YOU FILL YOUR POCKETS WITH when you’re rousted awake in the middle of a freezing German night to be death-marched across Germany? WHEN YOUR BUDDY STAGGERS AND FALLS by the side of the road, and no longer even knows who you are, do you keep moving to keep yourself alive? — “The next day we marched almost twenty hours, so now we were coming up to a town, now everybody is falling over, but I was in a group where everybody made a pledge to watch each other. I found myself off the side of the road and I lay in the snow and I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is so warm.’ I was so damn cold, I didn’t know my name or anything, or where I lived—I was gone!” —B-24 bombardier, shot down, taken prisoner Dying for freedom isn’t the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is. — “We got shot down around noontime by a Messerschmitt. I was in the top turret shooting at them, and I could see [their faces] as clearly as I'm looking at you. They wiped us out completely.I'm following him with the top turret gun and you could see bits of the plane coming off his tail section, but not enough to bother him. As I'm turning, the electrical cord on my flying suit got caught underneath the swivel of the turret. I ducked down, I untangled it… now I got back into my turret. Fellas, the turret wasn't there anymore. That son-of-a-gun who had been eyeing me came in and he hit his 20mm gun, took the top of that Plexiglas and tore it right off!The fighters made another pass. They hit a couple of our engines; they made another pass and they shot away our controls! We peeled off into one of these spirals—you've seen them on television where the plane will come over on its back and just spiral into the ground. Trees are coming up at me; I had my hand on the ripcord and out I went, headfirst.” —B-17 engineerMaybe our veterans did not volunteer to tell us their stories; perhaps we were too busy with our own lives to ask. But they opened up to a younger generation, when a history teacher taught his students to engage. — “I was standing on the train in Paris right next to an SS colonel—he had a satchel handcuffed to his arm, and a guard with a Sten gun. The train started up, and the SS colonel bumped into me. And he turned around to me and said, 'Pardonne moi.' I thought, ‘Oh, my God!’” —B-17 crewman/evadee, shot down on his first mission As we forge ahead as a nation, do we owe it to ourselves to become reacquainted with a generation that is fast leaving us, who asked for nothing but gave everything, to attune ourselves as Americans to a broader appreciation of what we stand for?This is the third book in the masterful WWII oral history series, but you can read them in any order. — “What made me cry was this is a guy from Texas, and even if he didn’t like blacks, or he didn’t like Jews, or Catholics, or whoever, no German was going to tell him what to do—no general was pushing him around! He says, ‘We are Americans in this camp, and we are all the same.’ They asked him for a list of all Jews, and he said, ‘You’re not going to get it—if you’re going to shoot them, you’re going to shoot us all, because we are not going to tell you which ones to pick out.’ So these are the things that make me feel damn proud to be an American!” —Lead navigator, PoW It's time to listen to them. Read some of the reviews below and REMEMBER how a generation of young Americans truly saved the world. Or maybe it was all for nothing? — “A must-read in every high school in America. It is a very poignant look back at our greatest generation; maybe it will inspire the next one.” Reviewer, Vol. I

It's not a novel. It's not based on a true story. It really happened, and I am a witness. You will be, too. What do you do if you are a reluctant soldier, having been shot at, seen your friends killed, and can no longer even remember what your own mother looks like? As a combat soldier fighting your way across Europe, what is the plan when you come across a Holocaust train full of suffering humanity that shocks you to your core, even after you think you have seen it all? And what happens when you get to meet the survivors face-to-face, two generations later? From the author of The Things Our Fathers Saw in the World War II eyewitness history series comes this book, offering the true story behind an iconic photograph taken at the liberation of a death train, deep in the heart of Nazi Germany. It's brought to life by the history teacher who discovered it and went on to reunite hundreds of Holocaust survivors with the actual American soldiers who saved them. The Holocaust was a watershed event in history. Drawing on never-before published eyewitness accounts, survivor testimony and memoirs, wartime reports and letters, Matthew Rozell takes us on his journey to uncover the stories behind the incredible 1945 liberation photographs taken by the soldiers who were there. He weaves together a chronology of the Holocaust as it unfolds across Europe and goes to the authentic sites of the Holocaust to retrace the steps of the survivors and the American soldiers who freed them. His mission culminates in joyful reunions in three continents, seven decades later. Rozell offers his unique perspective on the lessons of the holocaust for future generations and the impact that one person - a teacher - can make. Features testimony from 15 American liberators and over 30 Holocaust survivors. "After I got home I cried a lot. My parents couldn't understand why I couldn't sleep at times." (Walter "Babe" Gantz, US Army medic) "I grew up and spent all my years being angry. This means I don't have to be angry anymore." (Paul Arato, Holocaust survivor) "I survived because of many miracles. But for me to actually meet, shake hands, hug, and cry together with my liberators - the "angels of life" who literally gave me back my life - was just beyond imagination." (Leslie Meisels, Holocaust survivor) "People say it cannot happen here in this country; yes, it can happen here. I was 21 years old. I was there to see it happen!" (Luca Furnari, US Army) "It's not for my sake, it's for the sake of humanity, that you will remember." (Steve Barry, Holocaust survivor)

THE 3 BOOK OMNIBUS EDITION, in one 822-page binding, The Things Our Fathers Saw—The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation From Hometown, USA: VOLUMES 1-3...TOLD IN THEIR OWN WORDS...~From the award-winning author of the 'The Things Our Fathers Saw' World War II eyewitness history series~ 800 PAGES, including:*Volume I: Voices of the Pacific Theater*Volume II: War in the Air—From the Great Depression to Combat*Volume III: War in the Air—Combat, Captivity, and Reunion(Please visit Matthew Rozell's Amazon Author page for the 3 full book descriptions)By the end of 2018, fewer than 400,000 of our WW II veterans will still be with us, out of the over 16 million who put on a uniform. But why is it that today, nobody seems to know these stories? Maybe our veterans did not volunteer to tell us; maybe we were too busy with our own lives to ask."For all of us to be free, a few of us must be brave, and that is the history of America". Read how a generation of young Americans saved the world. Because dying for freedom isn’t the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is.

–From the author of 'The Things Our Fathers Saw' World War II narrative history trilogy– From the book: – 'I survived because of many miracles. But for me to actually meet, shake hands, hug, and cry together with my liberators—the ‘angels of life’ who literally gave me back my life—was just beyond imagination.'–Leslie Meisels, Holocaust Survivor – 'Battle-hardened veterans learn to contain their emotions, but it was difficult then, and I cry now to think about it. What stamina and regenerative spirit those brave people showed!'–George C. Gross, Liberator – 'Never in our training were we taught to be humanitarians. We were taught to be soldiers.'–Frank Towers, Liberator – 'I cannot believe, today, that the world almost ignored those people and what was happening. How could we have all stood by and have let that happen? They do not owe us anything. We owe them, for what we allowed to happen to them.'–Carrol Walsh, Liberator – '[People say it] cannot happen here in this country; yes, it can happen here. I was 21 years old. I was there to see it happen.'–Luca Furnari, US Army – '[After I got home] I cried a lot. My parents couldn’t understand why I couldn’t sleep at times.'–Walter ‘Babe’ Gantz, US Army medic – 'I grew up and spent all my years being angry. This means I don’t have to be angry anymore.'–Paul Arato, Holocaust Survivor – 'For the first time after going through sheer hell, I felt that there was such a thing as simple love coming from good people—young men who had left their families far behind, who wrapped us in warmth and love and cared for our well-being.'–Sara Atzmon, Holocaust Survivor – 'It’s not for my sake, it’s for the sake of humanity, that they will remember.'–Steve Barry, Holocaust Survivor THE HOLOCAUST was a watershed event in history. In this book, Matthew Rozell reconstructs a lost chapter—the liberation of a ‘death train’ deep in the heart of Nazi Germany in the closing days of the World War II. Drawing on never-before published eye-witness accounts, survivor testimony and memoirs, and wartime reports and letters, Rozell brings to life the incredible true stories behind the iconic 1945 liberation photographs taken by the soldiers who were there. He weaves together a chronology of the Holocaust as it unfolds across Europe, and goes back to literally retrace the steps of the survivors and the American soldiers who freed them. Rozell’s work results in joyful reunions on three continents, seven decades later. He offers his unique perspective on the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations, and the impact that one person, a teacher, can make. –Featuring testimony from 15 American liberators and over 30 Holocaust survivors -10 custom maps -72 photographs and illustrations, many never before published. -extensive notes and bibliographical references Included: BOOK ONE–THE HOLOCAUST BOOK TWO–THE AMERICANS BOOK THREE–LIBERATION BOOK FOUR–REUNION

WHEN YOU STEP OFF THE LANDING CRAFT into the sea, bullets flying at 0630, how do you react to your vision of your mother opening the telegram that you have been killed? WHEN YOUR GLIDER CRASHES AND BREAKS APART, what do you when you are shot and the Germans are bearing down on you, and you know your dogtags identify you as a Jew? — “I had a vision, if you want to call it that. At my home, the mailman would walk up towards the front porch, and I saw it just as clear as if he's standing beside me—I see his blue jacket and the blue cap and the leather mailbag. Here he goes up to the house, but he doesn’t turn. He goes right up the front steps. This happened so fast, probably a matter of seconds, but the first thing that came to mind, that's the way my folks would find out what happened to me. The next thing I know, I kind of come to, and I'm in the push-up mode. I'm half up out of the underwater depression, and I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened to those prone figures on the beach, and all of a sudden, I realized I'm in amongst those bodies!” —Army demolition engineer, Omaha Beach, D-DayDying for freedom isn’t the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is. — “My last mission was the Bastogne mission. We were being towed, we're approaching Bastogne, and I see a cloud of flak, anti-aircraft fire. I said to myself, ‘I'm not going to make it.’ There were a couple of groups ahead of us, so now the anti-aircraft batteries are zeroing in. Every time a new group came over, they kept zeroing in. My outfit had, I think, 95% casualties.” —Glider pilot, D-Day and beyondMaybe our veterans did not volunteer to tell us their stories; perhaps we were too busy with our own lives to ask. But they opened up to a younger generation, when a history teacher taught his students to engage. — “I was fighting in the hedgerows for five days; it was murder. But psychologically, we were the best troops in the world. There was nobody like us; I had all the training that they could give us, but nothing prepares you for some things. You know, in my platoon, the assistant platoon leader got shot right through the head, right through the helmet, dead, right there in front of me. That affects you, doesn’t it?”” —Paratrooper, D-Day and beyond As we forge ahead as a nation, do we owe it to ourselves to become reacquainted with a generation that is fast leaving us, who asked for nothing but gave everything, to attune ourselves as Americans to a broader appreciation of what we stand for?This is the fifth book in the masterful WWII oral history series, but you can read them in any order. — “Somebody asked me once, what was the hardest part for you in the war? And I thought about a young boy who came in as a replacement; the first thing he said was, ‘How long will it be before I'm a veteran?’I said, ‘If I'm talking to you the day after you're in combat, you're a veteran.’He replaced one of the gunners who had been killed on the back of the half-track. Now, all of a sudden, the Germans were pouring this fire in on us. He was working on the track and when he jumped off, he went down, called my name. I ran over to him and he was bleeding in the mouth… From my experience before, all I could do was hold that kid’s hand and tell him it’s going to be all right. ‘You'll be all right.’ I knew he wasn't going to last, and he was gone the minute that he squeezed my hand…” —Armored sergeant, D-Day and beyond It's time to listen to them. Read some of the reviews below and REMEMBER how a generation of young Americans truly saved the world. Or maybe it was all for nothing? — “A must-read in every high school in America. It is a very poignant look back at our greatest generation; maybe it will inspire the next one.” Reviewer, Vol. I

—ABRIDGED EDITION of the True Story of the Rescue of a Holocaust Death Train in World War II— SUITABLE FOR Grades 9-12 and Beyond AS A YOUNG TEEN living a comfortable life with family, what do you do when the Germans march into your town to persecute you, and your neighbors and your friends turn their backs? As life turns upside-down and you are now a young prisoner—fighting for survival in a concentration camp and FORCED TO BOARD A DEATH TRAIN to nowhere—how do you go on as people are dying all around you? AS A YOUNG AMERICAN SOLDIER in World War II, fighting brutal battles across Europe—having been shot at and shelled, having seen your friends killed, and no longer even able to remember what your own mother looks like—what is the plan when you STUMBLE ACROSS A HOLOCAUST TRAIN full of suffering families that shocks you to your core, even after you think you have seen it all? Jewish children on a death train. Nazi murderers. American soldiers. A teacher turned detective, solving a historical mystery, two generations later. It's not a novel. It's not 'based on a true story.' It really happened, and teenagers were there to tell about surviving the horrors of the Holocaust—and living to thank their liberators, just a few years older than themselves... in their own words. And what happens when the SOLDIERS AND SURVIVORS again MEET FACE TO FACE, seven decades later? ~ “I survived because of many miracles. but for me to actually meet and cry together with my liberators—the ‘angels of life’ who literally gave me back my life—was just beyond imagination!” –Leslie Meisels, Teenage Holocaust survivor, 65 years after being freed by American soldiers in World War II ~From the author of 'The Things Our Fathers Saw' World War II eyewitness history series~ A recent study found that two-thirds of American millennials do not know what Auschwitz is. 22% are not sure they have heard of the Holocaust at all. Well, most adults my age don’t know much about it, either. (And if you are an adult seeking to learn more about the Holocaust, you are in the right place, too, an abridged version of the 2016 bestseller of the same name.) The ‘good news’ is that most of those surveyed feel a need to learn about it, because ‘something like it’ could happen again. And I adapted this book with the hope that by the time you finish it, you will know more about the Holocaust than most people in your life—and maybe you’ll be motivated to do something about that, and think more about the world we inherited from these survivors, their liberators, and the perpetrators and the bystanders. While it is true that some risked all to help their neighbors, when confronted with a moral choice, most people did nothing. But these young soldiers did. I’ll take you into the world of the Holocaust through the eyes of the teens who lived it, children and young adult survivors from all over Europe who had two things in common—they shared the exact same American soldier-liberators, and now, as grandparents themselves, they had the opportunity to meet those same American gentlemen who were in the sunsets of their lives, some quietly wondering if it was all worthwhile. And as I lead you out of the darkness, we will ask questions and seek the answers about what it all means for our world today. We will keep the flame of remembrance alive, and you will become the new witnesses, the new light. What You Do MattersMATTHEW ROZELL—TEACHER, AUTHOR AND RE-UNITER~“People say it cannot happen here in this country; yes, it can happen here. I was 21 years old. I was there to see it happen!” - Luca Furnari, US Army~SOON TO BE A MAJOR DOCUMENTARY~~ 'It's not for my sake, it's for the sake of humanity, that you will remember.'-Steve Barry, Holocaust Survivor