“In this debut biography, a Royal Canadian Air Force gunner’s daughter recounts his World War II experiences, including being shot down over Germany and spending two years as a prisoner of war. The hunger, the cold, the isolation from the outside — all of this becomes palpable, and, page by page, readers will begin to experience just how long two years of captivity feels. This book’s intensely personal perspective vividly brings a piece of history to life.”

– Kirkus Review

Survival is a detailed account of one man’s simple and powerful pursuit of meaning amid the horrors of life in a prison camp.

Survival: My Father’s War as an Air Force Gunner and POW by Barbara Trendos is an epistolary-style account of a World War II veteran’s experiences.

Trendos channels her father’s voice, writing in first person, based on her father’s wartime experiences. By making the account her own, rather than sharing it directly from her father, Trendos is able to include, she admits, more details than her father would be willing to. Photos and historical records give the book a comprehensive, intimate feel that befits Trendos’s love for her father.

Those who are also children of World War II veterans will find Trendos’s account of her father’s wartime experiences to be enlightening and insightful. The book will also be meaningful to those studying the lives of prisoners of war for its careful accounts of the realities of daily life in a prison camp.

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– Clarion Review

“Such a wonderful first/second hand account of an amazing adventure.”

– Lieutenant-Colonel R.K. ‘Midas’ Vogan,
former Commanding Officer of 419 ‘Moose’ squadron
(Albert’s wartime and still existing RCAF squadron,
based in Cold Lake, Alberta)

“Once I started, I couldn’t stop.  It was an incredible read that I couldn’t put down from the moment I started. As a member of the RCAF, a pilot, oversees veteran, and History student I was engaged in every level, it’s hard to express all the feelings that your dad’s story digs up.”

– Greg Zweng, military historian

“This book has detailed the life of, not only her father but the lives of all Airmen, the sacrifices and the hardships, not only being a POW, but the chances of surviving a flying a tour of 30 Bombing mission less than 10% . The details of the two forced marches required a lot of research, along with other details. I was unable to put the book down and have since read it again. The Author has written history and should be read by all.”

– Stuart Hunt, roommate of Albert’s at Stalag Luft III and current friend