A recently published World War II biography, “Left for Dead at Nijmegen,” is being promoted as a true story of an American paratrooper during the war.

Eugene (Gene) Metcalfe, now a Fountain Hills resident, quit school in his senior year in 1942 to join the 82nd Airborne, 508th, 501 Paratroop Infantry Regiment. Now 96, Metcalfe recalled his life-changing experiences to Marcus A. Nannini, a history buff living in Carefree.

The biography was released March 14 by Casemate Publishers. The hardback book sells for $32.95.

On Sept. 17, 1944, Metcalfe was among the first to jump from a C-47 over Groesbeek Heights, about 45 miles behind the enemy line.

The area was believed to be free of German troops. Instead, three German anti-aircraft cannon emplacements defended the region.

As Metcalfe jumped into a hail of bullets and exploding shells, he watched his plane roll and plummet into the ground.

Metcalfe was listed as killed in action and left for dead by his patrol. Metcalfe lost his hearing when an explosion damaged his eardrum. Shortly after his capture, Heinrich Himmler, the second most powerful man in the Third Reich, interrogated him.

“It is only the beginning of what would prove to be eight harrowing months under the thumb of the Nazi High Command. He would witness carnage, mass murder, executions, risk his life to save a wounded fellow paratrooper, suffer extreme deprivation, be used as slave labor and continuously dodge death at the hands of both the German and Allied armed forces,” wrote Nannini.

Eventually, after making an escape attempt and being captured within sight of the snow-capped Swiss mountains, his camp was liberated by American troops in April 1945.

One reviewer commented on some of Metcalfe’s cartoons included in the book.

“I loved the stories of how he would get in trouble in school and boot camp for his cartoons,” the reviewer wrote. “I was thrilled to see a few of his drawings were included in the back of the book and couldn’t help but chuckle at the one entitled “das brot.”

After the war, Metcalfe briefly became an animator for Walt Disney. He returned to college and became an art teacher and basketball, baseball and football coach.