Local veterans tell wartime tales in Gottfried’s latest book

The cover of Lew Gottfried’s latest book, “Protecting Our Liberty,” features a picture of the Veterans Memorial at Harrison Smith Park in Upper Sandusky.

“Protecting Our Liberty.”
That is the title of Upper Sandusky author Lew Gottfried’s latest work, in which local veterans share their stories.
“Local veterans tell their own stories about their service,” Gottfried said. “These are all stories from each veteran. They are telling their own stories and they’ve got some beautiful stories.
“It’s all local veterans,” Gottfried added. “A couple of them are over in Hardin County, but mostly they’re all here in Wyandot County.”
The 162-page compilation is complete with personal wartime photos, including stamps, World War II ration books, campground sketches, discharge papers, soldiers’ letters to other soldiers and other personal artifacts provided by veterans and their families.
“I was going to retire, but a couple of veterans came to me and said, ‘You’ve got to write another book, Lew; you’ve got to right a book about our veterans,’” Gottfried said. “And I said, ‘You know, you’re right.’ This story has not been told about the veterans, but local veterans did.”
Included in the book are personal accounts from veterans of the Civil War and World War II.

Lew Gottfried

“These are all people that everyone around here knows,” Gottfried said.
Some of the veterans sharing their stories in the book include Carey Police Chief Dan Walter, Wyandot County Emergency Management Agency Director Rodger Brodman and Upper Sandusky Zoning Inspector Ken McMillan. Personal accounts from wartime nurses also are included.
“One nurse told me that nurses went through some of the same dangers that the soldiers did, but they don’t get the credit like the soldiers did and she thinks the nurses get sort of left out on publicity,” Gottfried said. “I had to agree with her. Some of them were right there with the soldiers facing the danger right with them.”
Copies of “Protecting Our Liberty” are available at The Corner Store, 100 S. Sandusky Ave., and the gift shop at Fairhaven Community, 850 S. Marseilles Ave., both in Upper Sandusky.
“The book is not for sale,” Gottfried said. “It’s for anybody who makes a donation to Fairhaven.”

By CHANDA NEELY
City editor

Posted by Daily Chief on June 9, 2012. Filed under Local News,Recent Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry