During the past decade there’s been a great resurgence of interest in World War II. This interest has, no doubt, been stimulated by one realization: the last surviving members of that generation are dwindling in number. Additionally, Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation has spurred an interest in those octogenarians and nonagenarians, their economic struggle, and… their war. A number of inspiring and informative books have recently treated the subject of World War II. Other than Brokaw’s, some of the widely popular include: Unbroken, Tears in the Darkness, With the Old Breed, A Higher Call, The Monuments Men, and Devil at My Heels. In the spirit of those novels, Dismounted Liberty takes an in-depth look into the life of one survivor of the Battle of Bataan and the Bataan Death March. Dismounted Liberty explores his horrendous experience as a prisoner of the Imperial Japanese Army. It examines the early life-events and tragedies that forged his character from early childhood through young adulthood. When Charlie was nine-years-of-age, his hard-working father died of pneumonia and his aged grandfather was left with the responsibility of the family farm. Later that year, the boy’s grandfather died and Charlie became the man of the house. At the age of ten and with the help of his mother and five younger siblings, Charlie tried to work the family’s 320-acre homestead. But after two years they lost the crop, their farm, home, machinery, and livestock, including Charlie’s beloved horse, Liberty. And Charlie wept as he dismounted Liberty for the last time. He dismounted Liberty, the horse that had provided him with his childhood freedom. Those and other tragedies forged Charlie’s character and prepared him for the incredible experiences that faced him. Charlie and three of his younger brothers went on to defend their beloved nation during World War II. Dismounted Liberty tells the story of their struggles, death, and near-death experiences. The genre for Dismounted Liberty is creative non-fiction. The events actually occurred and are verified through extensive research. However, descriptions, dialogue, and internal monologue of the protagonist are presumed, but considered accurate based on research of letters and documents, and interviews with contemporaries that knew the protagonist, some of who experienced many of his travails.
