Above and Below Silent Heroes of World War II

It was April 1943 and a young US Navy Armed Guard seaman left the safety of New York harbor on an oil tanker as part of a large convoy heading to the U-boat-infested waters of the North Atlantic.

Below the waves a novice German Navy U-boat commander was on the prowl, stalking Allied merchant ships on their journey across the ocean.

Neither of these two warriors could know then that their paths would soon cross.

"Above and Below" is the true story of a close encounter between an American and a German across the frigid tumult of the Atlantic Ocean. This historic account pulls from ship logs, war reports and journals to piece together firsthand account of deadly combat faced by both men. When they encounter each other in the Mediterranean Sea, their lives are forever changed.

Lee Bryan grew up in military family life while traveling throughout the United States and other countries. Her travels exposed her to different cultures and environments in each new place her family landed. After obtaining her degree in business, Bryan's work career began in the technology industry, where she held various management positions and again traveled broadly in the United States and internationally. She retired after a twenty-five-year track record of success in the corporate world and currently lives in Arizona with her husband Bill, enjoying her passions as a photographer and genealogy researcher, as well as discovering and documenting family history. Bryan serves as a board member for the Disabled Artists Foundation and holds a certificate in Life Coaching. Currently, she is also pursuing a Master of Arts degree in World War II Studies.

Lee's passion for researching and writing about past historical events and different cultures began with the stories her father told of his time spent in the military during World War II. The research and discovery of her father's handwritten journals provided the catalyst for writing his story. As a result of the subsequent discovery of a German U-boat commander's war diary and his personal letters, this story evolved into two men, their memoirs, and their encounter in the Mediterranean.