All right, we're starting. All right, three, two, one. Hi, this is William Ramsey. Welcome to William

Ramsey investigates on today's show of a very special guest. His name is Kurt Blurstad, and he published in 2019, a book that I read, really

fascinating book. The title of the book is Occupied, a novel based upon a true story, and his website is

www, K-U-R-S-T-A-D.com.

But this is a family story that he wrote and takes place in Norway. But he can talk more about that.

So, Kurt, are you there?

Yes, I am, William, and thank you for having me on the show today.

Awesome. Well, thanks for agreeing to the interview. Can you talk about

your family, you have a kind of a multi or an international family background. Can you talk

about that background and led you to put their stories together in this book, Occupied?

Oh, yes. Obviously, my father is from Norway, but when I say that, he was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929,

and then with the depression, he and his brother, mother and father moved back to Norway to the family

farm with their grandparents at the age of two. And so when I would ask my father,

you know, are you an American and are you a Norwegian? He'd say, well, I'm a Norwegian American.

He says, I'm an American because I was born there. But I really spent my entire childhood and

teenage years growing up in Norway and didn't come back until I was 17 because of the war.

And the war really split their family.

I mean, they all went back to Norway.

And then as things got better and the depression got better and in the United States,

my grandfather decided to come back, try to get established again, make some money, and make enough money to bring his entire family back with him.

The problem with that was the Germans didn't necessarily have the same plan as they did and then invaded Norway before my father, brothers, and grandmother could come back.

So they were split during the war. And it, you know, lent to a lot of interesting stories as a child

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