Half-Century of Philippine History is Back Drop for Family Memoir

“I wrote this book because I wanted to share a way of life and a time-period unknown or forgotten to the present generation,” explained John Russell Frank, Ph.D., author of On the Road Home - An American Story (iUniverse, $23.95). Fondly known as “Rusty” by friends and neighbors, Frank’s painstaking research into the life built by his grandfather, Patrick Henry Frank, in the Philippine Islands between the years 1898 and 1946, draws from historically rich letters, war diaries, photographs, memoirs, and oral and video histories that record the family’s epic experiences in the Philippine Islands. From the Spanish-American War through World War II, Frank’s story documents a half-century of conflict, adventure, colonialism, the heartbreaking deaths of family members, businesses ravaged by World War II, and internment in brutal Japanese prison camps.

In praise of On the Road Home, Dr. Henry Copeland, Professor of History and President Emeritus at the College of Wooster, writes: “Rich in the details of everyday life, the history contains enough thick description to warrant the attention of anthropologists, and at the same time, while lovingly recalling the feats of his grandfather as well as American contributions to Philippine society, there is more than enough violence and heartbreak to make the story ultimately a tragic one.”

“This is a warm, enlightening, and deeply moving account of one family’s remarkable adventures through significant trials and challenges associated with WW II,” added Dr. Richard Ray, managing Director and Senior Editor of John Knox Press. “It is decidedly more than that, however,” he continued. “It is an important contribution to our understanding of what it means to be an American citizen in our complex world today.”

On a trip back to the Philippine island of Mindanao “looking for my grandfather’s tread, my father’s beginning, my mother’s arrival, my own spring,” Frank stood watching the tropical evening fall. “The moon was up full,” he writes, “but my shadow was not the only one beside me; my shallow heart was not the only one beating. On the borderline of the mind’s edge where I was walking, my grandfather spoke to me.”

Frank, who graduated from the University of the South and received his M.A. from Furman University as an Angier Duke Fellow, and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University, has been an independent school headmaster and a college professor. He and his wife, Peggy Ann, now live in Montreat, North Carolina.


A book signing and reception will be held Tuesday, March 16, 4:00-5:30 p.m. at Montreat Books and Gifts in the Moore Center at Montreat Conference Center. The public is welcome. For more information, call 828.669.5298 or visit www.montreatbooksandgifts.org.