A Soldier's Story: World War II and the Battle at Sessenheim, France

"A Soldier's Story—World War II and the Battle at Sessenheim, France" offers a gripping personal account of one soldier's combat experiences on the bloody battlefields of France and Germany during the months preceding the Allies' 1945 victory in Europe. John T. "Jack" Scannell was a staff sergeant and infantryman with the 411th Infantry Regiment of the 103rd Cactus Division. He was decorated with the Silver Star for his heroic rescue of wounded US soldiers from a French farmhouse under siege of German fire. Defying a threat of court martial and braving enemy attack, he returned to the farmhouse where the wounded men had been left behind, honoring his promise to them that he'd come back. Five decades later, after relentless searching, one of those men would locate him and finally be able to thank him.