“When I Return in Spring” is the true-to-life story of a very troubled time in our nation's history when families were torn apart by the call to arms, and our American way of life was threatened by the enemies of freedom. It is written in a novel format in order to make it more reader friendly.

This historic account of World War II is as a firm reminder that our freedom cannot be taken for granted, but that it has been purchased with a price and must be earned anew by each generation.

It is one soldier’s personal account of the bitter air war over Germany where more that fifty percent of those sent into combat failed to return.

It brings to light a little known death march of five thousand American prisoners of war, forced to walk for over five hundred miles across Germany in the dead of winter on a starvation diet, where over two thousand of them died of exposure, disease and starvation.

Because war does not present a pretty picture, the author has seen fit to dull the graphic scenes of violence to avoid offense to tender minds.  The story line and language, devoid of vulgarity, crudeness and profanity, have been adapted for the family audience and can be enjoyed by young and old alike, and is often read as a family project.

Delbert D.  Lambson

As our old soldiers of World War II fail and fade away, many of their acts of heroism will forever go unheralded. An eighty-year-old veteran of that bitter conflict has written, for your consideration, this personal account of that tragic time in our nation’s history, in hopes that their heroic deeds might not be forgotten.   

“When I Return In Spring” is a touching, love story of a country boy, caught up in the avalanche of war. Torn from the arms of his young bride, he faces death in the skies over Germany, as a ball turret gunner on a B 17 Flying Fortress, at a time when one half or the heavy bombers sent into combat are lost before finishing their tour of duty.  The loneliness of being separated from everything that matters in his life is more devastating than the deadly enemy that he faces daily and fears deeply. 

In one of the little known tragedy of World War II, the book brings to light the heart-rending story of five thousand American prisoners of war who endure a five hundred mile death march across Germany in the dead of winter. After eighty-seven days of hunger, disease and exposure, two thousand of the emaciated prisoners are all that reach the allied lines and freedom.

You will witness a beaten and beleaguered German people, fleeing before the mighty Russian Onslaught, seeking sanctuary behind the allied lines, in the greatest mass migration of human beings since the exodus from Egypt by the Children of Israel.

This fascinating story, devoid of vulgarity, crudeness and profanity, is must reading for every red blooded American, and can be enjoyed by young and old alike.  It can well be read as a family project.

Reared in a Christian home where patriotism was a part of family life, young Delbert Lambson grew up with a firm conviction that America is a choice and promised land, destined to be a bastion of peace and freedom to the world.

Taken from the arms his new bride, and thrust into the fray of World War II, at the age of eighteen, he suffered the devastating loneliness of separation from everything that mattered in his life.  Facing death in the skies over Germany, putting his life on the line his home and country, his youth was taken from him, and his faith was tried. He stood the test of battle and gained a deep and abiding love for God and country.