The Forgotten Promise
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
May 1945, Austria at the end of WW II Captain Frank Walters leaped from his burning jeep and rolled behind the lead tank. Grabbing the phone attached to the back of the Sherman M4, he shouted hoarsely, "Machine gun, upper window, yellow house to the right!" "Gotcha, cap'n!" came a hollow reply from the commander inside the tank as its turret turned quickly to one o'clock. A red and yellowish flame shot out of its 75 mm gun. A second later, the whole upstairs floor of the house exploded. Splinters of wood and jagged pieces of plaster, fire brick and mortar flew in all directions. In a split second the whole upper part of the house was gone, sheared off as if by some gigantic hand. "Wow, what fireworks!" Sergeant Randy Young exclaimed, crouching behind the captain. Walters shook his head. "Yeah, probably blew up some ammo stashed up there." "Blasted them kraut s.o.b.'s to smithereens, don't you figure, cap'n?" "Yeah, it looks that way, but you never know," Walters replied, motioning to his men to follow him as they leaped from the half-trucks. "Let's go! There might be some krauts still hiding in that house. Let's flush them out!" Crouching, he ran across the narrow cobbled-stoned street, clutching a Colt .45 in his hand. Sergeant Young and several other soldiers followed him closely with M1 rifles ready. Panting for breath, they found themselves blocked by a massive oak door with ornate iron hinges. "Damn, it's locked. We'll never break it down," Walters barked as he pressed down on the rusty door handle. "Blast it open, Randy!" The sergeant waved at one of his soldiers with a bazooka to move up as Walters and the other men retreated several yards from the heavy door and flung themselves to the ground. A few moments later, a projectile...spewing a red-hot tail...swished toward the bolted door, splintering it into shreds. Walters was first to jump to his feet and leapfrogging over the scattered rubble, he reached the large hole where the massive door had stood. Cautiously he peered inside, but the unsettled dust and swirling clouds of powdery plaster obscured his vision. Inching forward, he almost stepped on someone lying on his back near the entrance to a small room. Silently signaling his men to search the house, he knelt over the body. The windows in the room were broken, but the wooden shutters on the outside were almost intact, casting the inside in an eerie semidarkness. But he could see well enough to recognize he wasn't looking at a dead German soldier, but at a badly wounded middle-aged woman dressed in a Tyrolian folk costume. She was barely alive, moaning softly. A pool of blood encircled her blond hair. But when the woman saw the captain standing over her, she slowly raised her head and handed him a small package. Gathering all her remaining strength, she grasped his hand, and whispered, "Für meine Tochter, Alexandra . . . versprechen Sie, versprechen Sie!" Startled, Walters tried to pull free from the dying woman's grasp, but she held on desperately, repeating in a faltering voice, "For my daughter, Alexandra . . . promise, promise!" Finally, bending closer to her pale, pain distorted face, he nodded his head. "I promise." Immediately, as if suddenly set free from all her pain and suffering, her face brightened ever so slightly. She released his hand and died.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
During WW II in Europe, a dying woman hands a small package to an American captain, Frank Walters. He promises to give it to her daughter, Alexandra, but instead hides it in the ruins of an old Austrian castle and forgets his promise. Fifty-one years later his son, Larry Walters, a History professor at Charles College, Charleston, South Carolina discovers a rusty, small arms ammunition box in the attic of his former home. It belonged to his father. Among several WW II mementos, he finds an old note with a strange message, "For my daughter, Alexandra, promise . . . promise!" On the other side of the note a crude drawing shows that something was hidden in the ruins of a castle, near a town called Reutte. Fascinated by his unexpected discovery, Larry locates the town on a European map and travels to Austria. There in the ruins of the castle, Ehrenberg, he unearths a rusty German Army gas mask container. Inside are two tightly sealed packets with rare, antique jewels. Resisting the temptation to keep his find for himself, he tries to fulfill his father's forgotten promise to deliver the precious jewels to the mysterious Alexandra. But to find her is a demanding and parlous task. Others who would stop at nothing to obtain them covet the jewels. Larry is plunged into a nightmare of intrigue and crime. It shatters his already failing marriage and drives him to lonely despair until he meets Alexandra's beautiful daughter, Leta von Sieverts.
About the Author
Ilmars Birznieks was born in Liepaja, Latvia. During the last year of WW II in Europe, he was deported with his parents to Germany. After spending six months in a Nazi labor camp and over five years as a displaced person at various locations, he came to United States in 1950. In 1953, he was inducted into the American Army and stationed in England and West Germany. Following his tour of duty, he returned to the States and graduated with a Ph.D. in German from Tulane University. Through his long tenure as professor of German at the University of North Carolina/Greensboro, University of Missouri/Columbia and Berea College, he taught German language and literature. He is the author of several scholarly articles and book reviews and has lectured on Baltic folklore and literature in Scotland, Sweden and Canada, as well as the United States. In 1982 he was an Honorary Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, University of Edinburgh, Scotland and in 1988 he received the Americanism Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Before retiring from academic life as Professor Emeritus, he began to write fiction. In the novel, The Forgotten Promise, he draws from his personal experiences to spin a tale of suspense and romance. He resides with his wife, Faith, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.