Adam Prudhomme
Editor
For decades Jeanie Quirt Brown had longed to put into writing her father’s harrowing tale of survival as a prisoner of war during WWII.
Upon her retirement she decided to get serious about her goal, researching as much as she could about her father, the late Lorne Shetler. The results of her efforts are A Good Man: A Prisoner of War’s True Account of Betrayal and Survival During the Second World War, a book that details the true account of her father’s time as a prisoner of war. On Friday she was in her father’s hometown of Napanee, signing copies of her book at Legion Branch 137.
Never wanting to be the centre of attention, her father would refuse to discuss much about his time overseas.
“Growing up I knew my dad was RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) and was a prisoner of war, but it wasn’t something he really talked about at all,” said Quirt Brown. “I tried to do some school projects but he wasn’t really interested in participating. But I always thought when I retired and I get the time, I really would want to try writing a book.”
Fortunately for her there was plenty of first-hand accounts to help guide her in her research.
“I had a lot of information and an old high school friend put me in touch with someone else who was a WWII historian who actually interviewed my dad so I was able to get in touch with him and he gave me more information,” said Quirt Brown. “I just started writing and trying to tie things together. My grandmother kept all my dad’s letters from overseas. My dad wrote a prisoner of war log, what happened to him from the time he was shot down to the time he was liberated. Later in life he wrote a diary just reminiscing about his childhood and all of that. I had a lot of original information. It took me three years, but I got there.”
From her research she learned her father’s plane was shot down over the Netherlands towards the end of WWII.
“He was shot down and was with the Dutch and then Belgium underground for awhile,” she said. “Then he was betrayed so that’s how he ended up with the Gestapo and thrown into a prisoner of war camp.”
He was first brought to Poland but was frequently forcefully moved to other camps.
“He was part of what they called the Long March,” said Quirt Brown. “When the Allies got too close, (Nazi soldiers) just closed down the camp and force marched (the PoWs) to get them closer to Berlin. The last prisoner of war camp he was in was just outside of Berlin.”
Historians note that about 30,000 Allied PoWs were marched from Poland to Berlin during the final months of the war. Often weak from being malnourished, those unable to continue to march were often shot and left for dead.
Known for his compassion, Shetler was said to have expressed sympathy for his captives, knowing they too were forced into carrying out orders from commanding officers, often times treated as poorly as the Allied PoWs.
Throughout Friday’s book singing many familiar faces dropped in to the Legion to pick up a copy of the book. Some had worked with her father and were eager to learn more about his story while serving his country. Others had family members who had served with him. Then there were those who had known the Shetler family from growing up in town, as he was one of eight children. Others had no connection at all but were simply interested in local history.
In honour of his service, Shetler’s photo is displayed in town every November as part of the Legion’s veteran banners that are hung on lamp posts in the downtown core.
“He would get very emotional about it,” Quirt Brown said of her father talking about his time in the military. “I’m not sure how he would feel about me putting it out there, but hopefully he would be proud. It’s a great story. He was a hero in my eyes. He didn’t like to be called a hero, but he really was.”
For the cover’s artwork Quirt Brown turned to Napanee artist and local historian Sherry Pringle. After the initial order of 100 copies were sold almost instantly, a second order was made.
Copies of A Good Man can be found at the Lennox and Addington County Museum and Archives.