A Long Way Home: A Memoir...

He forged his father's signature to go to war. He had no idea surviving it would be harder than dying in it. In 1940, seventeen-year-old Clemence Goetsch slipped a piece of paper into his shoe and lied his way into World War II. What followed were six years that shattered everything he knew—and set in motion a chain of lives that continues to this day. From the burning sands of North Africa under Rommel's assault to the frozen brutality of German POW camps, Clem Goetsch endured what few men could survive. He witnessed the death of his closest friend—a sacrifice whose impact would haunt him for decades. He survived Tobruk, Stalag IV-B, and the death marches of a crumbling Reich. And when the guns finally fell silent, he came home to discover that liberation doesn't mean freedom. The real war was just beginning—this time, in his own soul. Gordon Goetsch spent years reconstructing his father's story from faded military records, fragile letters, and the memories of those who lived it.