Sterling Heroes of World War II

by John Elliff, Denny Dressman

Overview

STERLING HEROES is a unique collection of first-person accounts of World War II service.

Thirty-six men from Sterling and surrounding Logan County in rural northeastern Colorado shared their very personal experiences in video-recorded interviews conducted by Dr. John Elliff, a Sterling ophthalmologist now retired, beginning in 2000. Dr. Elliff's project spanned more than 10 years.

Dr. Elliff engaged veteran journalist and author Denny Dressman to edit transcripts of the interviews and produce a remarkable history of the period that touched the lives of all Americans.

The collection of veterans—all from “the land of the endless horizon,” as Dressman describes Sterling and Logan County—represent a remarkable microcosm of America during the war years of the early 1940s. “As It Was Lived—In Their Own Words” aptly describes this book of World War II experiences.

Some were in the Army, some in the Navy; others flew for the Air Corps, and some were Marines. They served in the European Theater, all across the Pacific, and even in the Aleutians. Some landed on Omaha Beach on the Normandy coast, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, or took part in the bloody invasion of Okinawa.

Some became prisoners of war—enduring deplorable conditions; one survived Pearl Harbor aboard the battleship Tennessee, anchored just in front of the USS Arizona, which took a direct hit and sank, killing 1,177 helpless sailors.

One man was a code-breaker; another was in the first unit to liberate the Dachau concentration camp; still another transmitted half of President Roosevelt's last message to Japanese Emperor Hirohito just before the Pearl Harbor attack.

One was a bonafide Flying Ace. Another discovered that a physician who treated his sinus infection in Sterling—30 years later—provided the life-saving emergency treatment he received in a field hospital in Holland in 1944. Still another came to America as Italian soldier captured in North Africa, and became a U.S. citizen and 65-year resident of northeastern Colorado.

Poignant. Harrowing. Humorous. Remarkable. Each Sterling Hero's story is unique, yet altogether they are representative of America's wartime service experience from small towns to big cities, coast-to-coast. STERLING HEROES chronicles a period in America's history that citizens of all ages today need to know and appreciate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780983223610
Publisher:	Comserv Books
Publication date:	07/01/2012
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

DR. JOHN ELLIFF is a native of Sterling, Colorado. He practiced ophthalmology for more than 50 years until his retirement in 2011, and served as Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology a the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Chief of Staff at Sterling Hospital. Dr. Elliff has been active in farming, banking, real estate development and oil drilling in addition to his medical career. He is an accomplished musician and an avid world traveler and amateur photographer.

DENNY DRESSMAN is the author of five books and the editor of four others, and has collaborated on an award-winning movie script based on his biography of iconic Grambling foootball coach Eddie Robinson, which was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award for biography inn 2010. In a 43-year newspaper career in Cincinnati, Louisville (KY), Oakland (CA) and Denver, he was an award-winning reporter and columnist; held the positions of city editor, executive sports editor, managing editor and editor; and for 10 years at the Rocky Mountain News was vice president labor/human resources. He is a member of the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame, and a past president of the Colorado Press Association. He teaches writing in the University of Denver's University College Enrichment Program, and is vice president/programs for the Colorado Authors' League.