Beyond the Call – Lee Trimble and Jeremy Dronfield

This is a compelling true story of an American World War II hero who laid his life on the line in covert operations to bring his fellow soldiers as well as other men and women home to safety and freedom.

Captain Robert Trimble (father of author Lee Trimble) was a bomber pilot in the European theater. After finishing 35 bombing missions over the Third Reich he was assignment to recover downed bombers in Poland. Though unknown to him at the time of assignment that was a ruse for clandestine efforts to recover American POWs and aircrews.

The story chronicles his experience in that effort, including his saving literally hundreds of people. It exposes the inhumane treatment of American POWs and those of other nations by the Soviets (supposedly our ally). And the ugly politics of appeasing the Red Army is just a bewildering breach of American justice and defense of our soldiers by our own military and political leaders. It left me feeling ashamed of how the leaders of our country behaved at the time.