Major Raymond C. Heimbuch, USAF (ret.) is the author of 5 Brothers in Arms and I’m One of the Lucky Ones: I Came Home Alive.

According to the book description of 5 Brothers in Arms, “Karl and Christina Heimbuch, of Mobridge, SD had five sons involved in WW II. Two, in the Army Air Corps, were POWs of the Japanese, captured in the Philippines in the spring of 1942. Both shipped to Japan aboard the infamous “Hell Ships” to perform slave labor in Japanese War industries. One was a Marine, a voluntary inductee, among the first ashore at Iwo Jima and one of only three in his company who was not a casualty during the ensuing battles. One was in the Navy, also in the Pacific theater. The youngest was in the Army Air Corps.”

The MOAA said of I’m One of the Lucky Ones: I Came Home Alive, “Heimbuch came home alive. Unlike many of his fellow Japanese POWs, he lived to tell his story. The horrifying accounts are as vivid today as they were during World War II. His friendships with other survivors has remained throughout the years since this fight for life occurred. It is in celebration and liberation that Heimbuch shares his story for the rest of us to learn.”