Captured by the Enemy

If you love true World War II stories of escape, survival, and quiet courage, Captured by the Enemy will pull you in and stay with you.

Carl Leroy Good was a young soldier from Kansas who never expected to see the world, let alone a prison camp. Combat in North Africa and Europe changed him forever. The roar of engines, the blast of artillery, and the sight of friends who did not make it home left marks that did not fade when the war was over.

When Carl was captured behind enemy lines and thrown into a prisoner of war camp, he was told more than once that he would never see home again. For a while he believed it. Hunger, cold, and fear became part of every day. Then a blast tore through the camp he was in. Wounded and shaken, Carl made a decision in that moment. He would not die to the satisfaction of the enemy.

Transferred to Camp 59 outside Servigliano, Italy, he was weak and starved. One night in September 1943, during a mass escape, he climbed through a hole in the prison wall and fled into the mountains. German patrols searched the valleys and roads below as the weeks turned into months. Each day became a question. Could he survive the hunt long enough to see his family again, or would the enemy find him first?

This book retraces the steps of World War II POW Carl Leroy Good and sets his journey inside the larger history that shaped it. Through interviews, family recordings, memoirs, division reports, military records, books, and years of research, this work of creative nonfiction tells a true story in a way that reads like a novel. You ride with Carl in the jeep, march beside him on the long road, and see the war through his eyes.

Captured by the Enemy honors one soldier's courage and the quiet acts of kindness that helped him survive. It is a story for anyone who wants to remember what earlier generations endured and to find hope in the way one man refused to give up.

Crystal Aceves is an author and researcher who spent eight years retracing her grandfather Carl Leroy Good's wartime footsteps in order to bring his true World War II story to life. She is also the creator of Messages For Your Soul, a project that shares daily encouragement and hope.