Colin’s Comments (group member since Dec 16, 2012)

Colin’s comments from the THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP group.

Christie, see my website where many pics of my interview subjects are posted

www.lewisheatonbooks.com

they are usually the subjects of my books

You may all want to read the book written by a former CO of mine, Col. James N. Rowe. The title is Five Years to Freedom, and I also wrote about him in our book Noble Warrior, covering his murder. Rowe escaped captivity after 5 years 4 months, POW of the Viet Cong. Created SERE school for Special Forces as a result. Great man, good friend.

Great book, and Heinz was a great guy, and a good friend. He and I had many a beer and chatted with his old fighter pilot friends, discussing their stories.

Piet was one of a kind, for sure.

My website has data, as well as Amazon with a few pre publication reviews. Website: www.lewisheatonbooks.com

Agreed, I still have distant family in the UK and Germany, and a lot of professional contacts.

Those of you who like history and adventure books, our next book Four War Boer will be out in May.

My uncle did the geneology to a certain point, I managed to follow up in the PRO in Kew Surrey, and then through the lexicon of nobility in Germany and France. Old church records helped, records of births, deaths, inheritance records, even many rolls on the deaths of men in various battles.

Great book, I discussed the book during my interview with Tuck years ago. Great man, great sense of humor. He was also the godfather to Adolf Galland's son, Andreas, just FYI, and Galland told me that Tuck was the "best man for the job"

Colin

The museum is nice. During the celebrations in 2000 I was there for the opening for the Pacific wing, we where many of us had book signings.

I agree on the casting, all were good except Cruise. Actually, my family goes back to the 900s, to Rurik the Varangian, first bodyguard commander to Prince Jaroslav the Wise. He was the grandfather of Roger de Heton, Norman knight, who was a cousin of harald Hardrada, and was a Baron and the first Norman military governor of Ireland under William I (the Conquerer). Actress Patricia Heaton is a 3rd cousin.

Ironically, I agree. Cruise would not have been my first choice. I am related to the Stauffenbergs (von der Heydte by marriage 400 years ago).

The new book is The Star of Africa, bu the next book/biography comes out in May, see Amazon for that one.

That's the one, Barrett Tillman, Rolf Glogner and I.

Colin

That was a good episode. I was on the episode Secret Weapons as a guest historian, with Komet pilot Rolf Glogner, and my friend Barrett Tillman.

I am working on my next book, the second in The German Aces SPeak series (Luftwaffe)featuring Erich Hartmann, Johannes Steinhiff, Gunther Rall, and Dietrich Hrabak. I will then continue that line of books with other pilots, then a series with Waffen SS men, tank commanders, U-boat commanders, Pacifica aces, etc.

I interviewed many tiger crewmen, and a few commanders, even of the Waffen SS. Otto carius, Paul Eggar, Albert Kerscher, Ernst Barkmann (Panthers), Wolfgang Koltermann, and others. Intersting guys. Get the book Tigers in the Mud.

Roger that. We are now working on Volume 2 of The German Aces Speak from my interviews.

Christie:
There are a lot of book written about DeGaulle during that period, I would just to a e-net search on Amazon, and pick and choose. If I had my way, he would have been sitting next to Goring at Nuremberg. The Italian governt probably still pays ensions to the women who survived the rampage of rape and murder that French troops committed during their "liberation".

Colin

Christie, read my book Occupation and Insurgency, as it deals with the Holocaust in the field, at the execution level. Those actions are also placed into proper context with the applicable laws of war, which were The Hague Convention of 1907 and Geneva Convention of 1929 (revu=ised in 1949 as a result of the Holocaust and Japanese atrocities). This book also contains my interviews with SS officers and a couple of SS generals, soldiers, guerrillas, partisans etc. Gives you a different view. FYI, DeGaulle (whom I called DeFraud in paris, giving a paper on him), sanctioned his own rape and murder squads in Italy. He was never called to task, Roosevelt and Churchill dropped him as a viable ally, but tried to bury the deeds.