MY FATHER'S SECRET WAR


The story of a remote silent man who kept his breathtaking past and his real character a carefully guarded secret - until the day his daughter found out who he really was. A World War Two Spy Memoir.

About the Author



Dear Lucinda Franks,

I have just finished reading your amazing book about your father's war experience. (I rushed to get your book once I saw the information in Newsweek.) I loved your writing in this book, and am still amazed at the interesting story and the transformation of your father once he returned to "life" back in the states.

My father was in the army during WW II. He, too, was at the liberation of Ordruf. We have pictures of what was "discovered" there that he or someone else took. What your father's description of the camp and the unfortunate people there is evident in these pictures.

I wondered if you would like me to make copies of these and send them to you.

My father, like most men of his generation and like your own father, rarely talked about his experience. But 3 years ago my father did tell me some things which I could share with you in another email if you would care to hear his experience. He told me this shortly before his death in July 2004. He never told my other siblings about this.

Thank you so much for putting yours and his life in front of all of us to see how life can be so difficult at times, yet searching for our parent's experiences can be enlightening and heartbreaking at the same time.

      Eileen Hale


You have motivated me to consider my past with more objectivity and compassion. At the age of 58, it is high time. My father, having served in the 73rd Base Depot Co...rarely spoke of his experiences...There were annual reunions of his company and their families, but I do not recall one moment where the men openly discussed the war. My 91-year old mother s one of those women who truly believed she could reform a man...This in fact drove him further away from his (family)..he escaped to his basement where he could do his calculus problems in peace.

    Best,
      Barbara


lucinda

hi and hello

....we all have a burden to carry thanks to our parents / i was able to think of my father as you told of yours / he was a soldier in ww2 and a distanced man with his family / i am going to read his war letters too and maybe discover a bit more about my father good luck writing and good luck with everything else...

      ken horlick


Dad was OSS.

If you can direct me to contacts, sources or information, I would be appreciative.

I have been researching since about 1984 when I got the call from Pinelas County EMT saying Dad was in the squalor worse than the worst crime scene they had ever seen.

Our stories are almost identical,

    Thanks,
      John


I just finished your book re your father. I am a contemporary; Vietnam vet, war protest 1992. I am an avid reader and have read many moving books...but in your book, my eyes were not only tearing, I was sobbing. Thank you for letting me remember my father and his mysteries.

...There has been too much silence about the trauma of "The Greatest Generation" and the effect on their families.

      Carol Schultz Vento, PhD., J.D.


...I am 56, and so many of my generation can relate to the silent tortured vets of WWII. My mom tells of her three brother crying out at night following their return from service...thanks for sharing this with the world.

      Bob Carlson


My heart stopped when I read about your book. I ran out and bought it over the weekend. I thought I was the only one whose dad was nuts after such a patriotic war as WWII.

I thought I was over my now deceased Dad, the form OSS turned CIA Bay of Pigs man.

Divorced, compulsive gambler, depressed, crazy professor that he was...The wall of silence about him from official sources (I contacted) is very high and very thick. No response to my request for his "Army" records. The CIA laughs at FOIA requests. I hope your book will help me figure it out how to figure out what happened to him.

      Mary Ellen Hogan


How surprised I am to find out that others about the same age as my dad, army, also began telling their families about what they did during the war...like your Dad my dad never needed to use a map once he studied it well...He could also SEW!...Dad said he was in a tough group and they had to do some bad things. Once I asked him if he had ever seen Hitler and he said "maybe."...knowing my Dad like you knew yours, I knew that was yes...what a shame we didn't know what our fathers did for our country,,,if you have any tips that might help my sister and I if we went to search more, I would appreciate it

      Maryann Orrell


Great book! My own father died in 1957 or acute radiation poisoning while in the Air Force and the cause was withheld from my mother...I'll probably never know as all my attempts to get a straight answer were stonewalled. I wish I could get the clarity and resolution that you have gotten. Thank you for writing this important book, and exploring the human dimension and feelings of a difficult subject,.

You have helped and validated many thousands of us.

      Grieg Asher



© 2008 Lucinda Franks. Design by Andreas Viklund.