My Mother Kept a Scrapbook

Wisconsin Bookwatch, June, 2005

My Mother Kept A Scrapbook

Gerhard Johnson and Kathleen Marie Marsh

Otter Run Books

16965 Nicolet Rd, Townsend, WI 54130

0976079615 $9.95 otterrunbooks.com

When he was captured in Italy in January of 1944, U.S. army Private Gerhard Johnson didn't expect to ever see his Wisconsin family again as he endured 15 months of hell as a P.O.W. Denied even the most basic human needs of food, water, shelter, sanitation, and medical care, Johnson was determined to make it back home to marry the woman he loved. During captivity he lost nearly half of his body weight but still managed to survive while back home in Wisconsin his mother wrote letters, sent Red Cross packages, and filled a scrapbook in an amazing effort to keep her absent son "alive" as long as she possible could. Very highly recommended reading and a welcome contribution to the growing library of World War II memoirs, My Mother Kept A Scrapbook: The True Story Of A WWII POW is Gerhard Jonson's personal and dramatic story, preserved for present and future generations with the help of Kathleen Marie Marsh.