With the steady stream of books and movies that have flowed out of WWII one would think all the stories have been told, the well dry. But author Jeff Donaldson has one more.

“Men of Honor, American GIs in the Jewish Holocaust,” (2005, Hellgate Press) tells the almost unknown, true story of American soldiers interned in German prison camps, not as prisoners of war, but as Jews.

Donaldson, who now works as a reporter in Port Orchard, said he learned of the story in 1995 when a WWII vet shared his experience of being part of a group of captured soldiers whom the Nazis separated into Jews and non-Jews. The men stuck together and wouldn’t reveal their religion, so the Nazis rounded up a random 350 GIs who fit the “Jewish profile” and took them to a concentration camp. Only 68 survived.

A short while later, he ran into another camp survivor with a similar story.

With a reporter’s nose for a good story, Donaldson began searching for other survivors, hoping to hear their stories. For some, it was the first time anyone had listened.

Many had been told by army debriefing teams to not talk about their experience, others just wanted to put it behind them. But it was something none of them could forget.

“It opened up a big door for them,” Donaldson said.

When he started searching for survivors he found many of the men had stayed in contact, although they were now in their early 80s. Donaldson settled on 25 men’s stories for the book, which was published in April 2005 by Hellgate Press, a small publisher in Oregon which specializes in military history and adventure.

Donaldson called the veterans’ stories “riveting.”

Critics agreed. Barney Cohen, author of “The Proud: Inside the Marine Corps” and producer of the CBS telemovie “Armed and Innocent” called it “an important contribution to the field of Holocaust writing that is shocking and uplifting at the same time. Donaldson is a careful investigator and an evocative writer.”

Lt. Gen. Martin L. Brandtner, USMC (Ret.), described it as “a collection of gripping stories of a dark side of World War II that brings to life the horrific events of the Holocaust as seen through the eyes of GI POWs.”

Donaldson served in the Air Force as a linguist, and comes from a military family so he’s heard a lot of war stories, but this one was different.

“I grew up listening to their stories, but this one was shocking to me,” he said. He was surprised to learn that Jewish soldiers who were captured often threw away their dog tags. The reason: They were marked with a tell-tale “H” for Hebrew. While this was done to insure proper after-death handling of their bodies, it could also mean their death if captured by German troops.

“In the military you always learn you are supposed to give your name, rank and serial number,” Donaldson said, “but religion was never brought up.”

Donaldson, 38, marketed the book on the East Coast to a warm reception, and is now making inroads into the Northwest market. The book currently is only locally available at Armchair Books, but it can be found online at www.hellsgatepress.com and amazon.com.

He will sign copies of his book from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 16 at Armchair Books, at the store’s new location, 802 Bay St., Port Orchard.