From the Author
We Grieve For The LivingOn Sunday, Oct. 25, 1998 & again on Saturday October 31st, the History Channel aired a TV documentary regarding the Leopoldville Disaster produced by Reuters Television Investigative Reporter Larry Bond. Author Allan Andrade was consulted during the research stage of the documentary and his name was listed in the program's credits.
The Producer of the program, Larry Bond, recently wrote a review of Andrade's book which stated in part, "With skills developed over 20 years as a New York City Police Investigative Lieutenant he started digging into the dusty, hidden files with the tenacity of a real-life Columbo. What he found was that even though the ship's sinking was hidden it was not forgotten.
Andrade tracked down not only survivors but also relatives of the victims: sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, wives....The stories they tell him are heartbreaking: parents driven to early graves by grief, impoverished wives, fatherless children, all wondering what had happened to their men. Many survivors, having never talked about the event even to their own families for 50 years, opened up to Andrade with harrowing stories.
None of them had forgotten anything. Many are still reminded in cold sweat nightmares. Cursed by human memory to recall so clearly a tragic event that took place during a few hours on one day over a half century ago. Andrade had the difficult task of telling the truth about the sinking of the S.S. Leopoldville and finding again that it is not for the dead that we grieve but for the living."
