cover image Passages to Freedom: A Story of Capture and Escape

Passages to Freedom: A Story of Capture and Escape

Joseph S. Frelinguysen. Sunflower University Press, $17.95 (303pp) ISBN 978-0-89745-131-4

In November of 1942 Frelinghuysen, a U.S. Army captain, was ambushed and captured by the Germans in North Africa. After a harrowing interrogation, he was moved to an Italian prisoner-of-war camp in Capua, and from there to a second camp in the ancient city of Chieti. A year later the relatively easygoing Italian guards were replaced by Germans, who proceeded to transfer the prisoner to Concentration Camp 78 at Fonte d'Amore, near Sulmona. From there, he and a fellow American escaped. The rest of the book chronicles their perilous trek as they made their way through enemy lines, avoiding German patrols and relying on the courage and generosity of the local Italian people, who assisted the escaped prisoners at considerable risk. Frelinghuysen writes in a pleasing, straightforward style, and his description of army life is honest and insightful. The telling of his escape, however, is far from unique, and the plethora of detail he provides about its execution and about the many people who crossed his path along the way offers little of interest to the general reader. Frelinghuysen is coauthor of The Complete Guide to Physical Fitness . Illustrated. (Oct.)