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OFF THE SHELF - Three top reads for Spring
By SGT Damian Griffin
Edition 1174, September 6, 2007 |
An Old Fellow’s War
Edmund Nyst
New Holland Publishers
$24.95
4/5 stars
At age 12, Edmund Nyst helped his father hide Jews around Marseilles.
At age 16, he joined the fighting force of the French Resistance, the Maquis.
There he witnessed many German atrocities and visited the village of Oradour-sur-Glane only days after the Germans had executed every man, woman and child in the town and set fire to it.
After 60 years, his son persuaded him to write this book, after his initial reaction of “No one wants to hear about an old fellow’s war”, this is the result. An incredible tale of survival and courage of this French-born Dutchman who went on to fight in New Guinea, Borneo and Timor before coming to Australia and settling here. |
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Forgotten Valour
Peter Quinlivian
New Holland Publishers
$29.95
2.5/5 stars
GNR Arthur Sullivan VC was an Australian soldier who enlisted to fight in World War I, and went on to serve as one of about 150 Australian soldiers who volunteered to join the North Russian Relief Force in 1919.
He was awarded the VC for his actions on August 11, 1919, when he saved four of his mates from drowning as they fought a rear-guard action across a river in northern Russia.
Overall, it’s not as easy to read as the other two books I’ve reviewed here, but it does explore a little- known phase of Australian history, and it looks at some of the military and political influences of the time.
It also explores some of the experiences of returned men generally, and Arthur Sullivan’s short life. |
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The Flying Grocer
Rupert Guinness
Random House
$34.95
3.5/5 stars
As World War II drew to a close, Jannie Van Splunder and her family were among the more than three million starving people of Holland struggling to survive.
To save them, in May 1945 Lancaster bombers on Operation Manna, one of the greatest humanitarian aid missions ever undertaken, dropped food parcels all over the still German-occupied country under a truce agreement.
During one of these missions, a packet of cigarettes with a note containing the Australian pilot’s name and address was picked up.
What followed was a lifetime of letters and friendship between Jannie and the flying grocer. Rupert Guinness has weaved together a revealing wartime tale using letters, interviews and diary extracts.
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