4.5 ⭐️ so powerful and the end was incredibly moving.

A gripping story. Horace Greasley is a true hero (if this story is indeed accurate). He brought out the strongest feat of man in a time where the greatest evil was schooled into the minds of innocents (and less innocent), turning their hearts into something dead and unkind. No doubt that, if this story is true, Horace Greasley must have been a man with the greatest luck having survived the way he did. In no way I mean to say that he had it easy but this man had nine lives like a cat. And he spend them well: bringing hope into a hopeless place, never giving up.

Note to myself: Remember Garwood, he's a hero too.

This book honestly was just strange. I don’t want to hear about how you joined the army and one day woke up with a massive errection! That’s something I didn’t need to know. Another thing I didn’t need to know is that instead of putting clothes over said errection you waved it around and made your bunk mates look at it. Most of the interesting parts of this book that aren’t covered by more well-known authors are overshadowed by the sexual appetite of the protagonist. Seeing the inside of prisoner of war camps in WW2 within the French boarders, I have yet to see that covered by any other book – but all I could tell you about it was that Mr Greasley was more preoccupied with his genitals than what was going on in front of him.

Great story but way too much R-rated details of his sexual encounters. For this reason I would not recommend for most of my friends.

This is an absolutely amazing story of an even more amazing man whose humility is evident with every word read. This story begins during Horace Greasley's early teens as he discovers girls and the benefits of a steady job. Just as things begin to settle into some kind of routine, World War Two breaks out and he signs up to the 2nd/5th Battalion Leicesters finding himself sent out to war during Christmas 1939. By the following summer he and his fellow soldiers found themselves captured and sent from camp to camp as POWs, subjected to conditions that the word inhumane doesn't even cover. What follows is a story of human endurance that none who haven't lived could ever understand and those that were there cannot express in words. Having said that, Greasley makes a damn good effort at describing the conditions and the effects these had on him and his friends and how even the smallest victory meant the everything. And despite their circumstances this is a strangely upbeat book as Greasley inspires his fellow POW to keep going and battle on to the end and even motivate them to fight back and defend their basic human rights. This is a story of a great man that deserves a lot more recognition than he has received so far (why this book is not recommended reading for history students across the country is beyond me!) that spans every emotional gambit and then some. A must must must read if ever there was one.