Former American Staff Sgt. Leon Weckstein fought in Italy throughout World War II and is credited by both the American and Italian governments as the solider whose wise decision saved the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He tells this story in Through My Eyes.
Leon also became involved with the brave Italian partisans fighting to save their country and writes about their heroic acts in 200,000 Heroes.
200,000 Heroes
Italy, July 1943-1945
An unendurable insult to Italy’s inherently genial way of life had been brought about by Hitler’s storm-troopers and Mussolini’s Fascist toadies as they took a heavy toll on its demoralized people. The American and British Eighth Armies were tied down in North Africa and any premature action would be tremendously costly in lives. With the impracticality of such an action, no army in the world had been ready to take on the German onslaught until 1943. That situation changed radically when the hard-fought invasion of Allied forces onto Sicily’s beaches during that bloody summer had begun to lift the dusky mood of the country’s citizenry. In July of that year, Allied armor and infantry had already been approaching Naples when Italy’s long concealed anger against their ruthless oppressors turned to insurrection. Just before the Allies arrived at the gates of the city, disorganized street riots broke out in various parts of the extensive metropolis, surprising the Germans. Even with vicious retaliation by Hitler’s occupying forces, the 5th day of disorganized rioting saw the withdrawal of Hitler’s baffled platoons heading for the nearby hills. 200,000 Heroes describes a number of the impulsively gallant actions that occurred during the “4 Days of Naples” as small squads of rebellious saboteurs joined with cliques of demobilized army and navy regulars who happened to be visiting the city. All in all, a rowdy swarm of irate Neapolitan musketeers whose pent up wrath ultimately turned the tide of victory and would later be hailed as the first important Partisans. Soon, the reputation of their heroic exploits spread among Italy’s downtrodden population with inspiriting hope One character at a time, the book goes on to tell who, how, and why the entire country began to swarm with a combination of male and female heroes that took up the Partisan battle against their countries hateful occupiers. Not all would be successful. Faithfully portrayed within these pages are vividly detailed stories of Italian prisoners who more often than not, were tortured and massacred along with entire villages of innocent women and children. Wholesale civilian sacrifices became a common Berlin scourge but the Partisan freedom fighters never stopped. Several eye-opening chapters tell of brave American and British OSS supermen who, during the last year of the rocky alpine battle, flew perilous airdrops of men and supplies into Partisan positions to maintain their growing strength and progress. Weckstein notes that when the war in Italy finally ended, the brave Partisans had accomplished what they had set out to do, and in the bold process allowed thousands of our American infantrymen to go home in one piece. This author was there…an American G I, fighting with and befriending the Partisans. One of his two closest friends was Partisan Alberto Secchi who unknowingly supplied him with a host of confidential stories for this book. The book is published by Hellgate Press, publishers of military history, veteran memoirs and travel adventures. Preview the book.Click this book and buy now!
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Through My Eyes
Through My Eyes is an anecdotal biography of one average American youngster and his life altering climb into the rarefied region of very highly decorated war heroes. As he joined the ranks of manhood through the ages of 21 to 24, his surprising accomplishments have appeared in tabloids and television throughout the free World.
As a Staff Sergeant, Leon Weckstein’s experiences during the three-year Italian Campaign saw him develop from a wimpy lad into an intense, impassioned killer. Yet, in contrast to that infantry savagery, and before the smoke had cleared the killing fields, he would forever be blessed in the annals of Pisa for having saved their precious Leaning Tower even though ordered to waste it. Grateful mayors of that city would later provide Weckstein with honorary gifts and medallions that hang on his office wall today. Chapter by changing chapter, this amazing, anecdotal account is not the usual dry remembrance of battles won or lost, but a fast-paced life or death retelling of what he had witnessed or participated in along the broken landscape of war-torn Tuscany. Sometimes humorous, too often horrifying, know that his adventures were real and not part of a Hollywood screenplay. Like the prize in a sealed box of CrackerJacks, the book’s last five chapters describe a number of unexpected events that took place after the very last day the war with Germany had ended when Weckstein’s 1st battalion had been ordered to rush to Trieste. What had occurred so close to the Yugoslavian border is rarely, if ever, addressed in other wartime narratives but retold here as never before. His Battalion Commander had selected Sgt. Weckstein to be his sole eyes and ears in that geographically disputed area, providing him with a Jeep and driver to reconnoiter the entire urban city for locations and strength of Marshal Tito’s bellicose troops. Another war had to be avoided and as the Battalion’s Intelligence Sergeant, Weckstein became among the first to stamp out the threatening fire. What follows in those last surprising pages became a comedy of quixotic experiences that capped off Weckstein’s hellish war, ending it with an uncommonly poignant flourish. The book is published by Hellgate Press, publishers of military history, veteran memoirs and travel adventures. Preview the book.
Click this book and buy now!
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