Sanctuary

About the Book

Father Damien is a Catholic priest at Saint Francis in Bergamo, Italy during World War II. He has witnessed the oppression and brutality that the German occupation has brought to his community. His primary concern is to shelter a handful of citizens who have sought sanctuary in his church. Among the elderly and unable to travel are seven young men who stay behind to protect their families. Father Damien and his force have the opportunity to confront Colonel Anton Fahn of the German regiment that attacked the sister city of Clusone to the north. They ransacked the village and have taken everything of value that they could carry on their way to Switzerland. Their detour to Bergamo to the south has disturbed his fellow officers. The Americans have landed in Genova, Italy just six hours to the south west of Bergamo and there is not much time left for the Germans to complete their thievery. Father Damien organizes the resistance to the German’s encroachment on their town and prays for deliverance by the Americans.

About the Author

The author was born in Pittsburg, Kansas on July 20, 1948. It is a small town in the south east corner of the state. He joined the United States Air Force in the middle of the Vietnam War era in August of 1966. He served four years in the military acquiring the G.I. Bill for his college education. He attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City where he earned his Bachelor in Business Administration degree and continued on in graduate school. He obtained his Master in Business Administration in May of 1975 and received his Certificate in Public Accounting in June of 1976. The author is the former General Manager for the Board of Public Utilities in Kansas City, Kansas and a former Board Member for the American Public Power Association. He has served on the Board of Western Fuels Association and is a member of The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. In his last eight years in public service he lived in the United States Territory of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas. He served as the Chief Financial Officer for the Water and Power Authority and as a special financial consultant to the Government of the Virgin Islands. The author began his new career in writing after the death of his wife Deanna in 2004 and now lives in Kansas City, Kansas. Mr. Drake is the father of three children. The first being Terry Christine Drake who lives in Snohomish, Washington with her husband Michael and their two sons Sean and Jacob. His daughter Dresden Marie Drake Goldberg lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband, Stephen Arnold Goldberg and their twin girls Hannah and Harper. Finally, the author’s son Brandon Lee Drake lives in Tampa, Florida just after serving eight years in the United States Navy stationed in Japan.