Historic Discovery: Woman Uncovers Father’s WWII Past and Chilling Nazi Artifact

John Fletcher Sisson, a World War II soldier, passed away in 1992. Karen Sisson Marshall had no idea she would come to a piece of history so sinister that it would permanently alter her perspective of war and legacy.

For decades, tucked away on a family bookcase, was an artifact visible: a personal copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, annotated by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most infamous designers of the Holocaust. Marshall told Military Times, "It had always been there, but I never grasped its significance."

Marshall started sifting through her father's papers after his death and was shocked to discover a 70-page typed book detailing his wartime recollections, maps, and letters from his 1979 trip back to Normandy. None of it was known to her mother.

That revelation opened a door to more profound inquiries regarding her father's service and why he had maintained such a book. Her experience in historic preservation heightened her sense of obligation. After being turned away by big auction houses, she contacted a rare bookshop and, finally, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.

Her path is now recorded in a book exhorting people to find family history. "The essence of my story is: how well do we actually know the stories that shape our life?” Marshall added. "You just open the attic, grab the letters, and begin asking questions; you are not a historian."

Through her father's silent legacy, Marshall seeks to motivate others to acknowledge that even the most average households can have remarkable ties to the past.