this book is sensitively written and full of fascinating details, which bring the history alive.

This book kept my interest cover to cover. Lawrence Cane is obviously the epitome of a soldier and family man, the essense of the American service man in W.W. 2. From basic training thru the occupation of Germany,he was a man who had not only to fight for his place in the war ,but then to fight the war from the first wave to hit the beach on Normandy,to the liberation of the concentration camps, to time spent in the rebuilding of Germany in Eisleben.

I'm very interested in the powerful tapestry of the US homefront during WWII. This book provides a wide variety of first hand accounts of what was happening and more importantly how people felt about these events. The power comes from the fact that the words were written at the time rather than as later rememberances tainted by subsequent experiences. The only selectivity is in the letters people chose to save. But I think the authors have done a good job in trying to mitigate this natural bias by drawing from a wide variety of sources.

This book of letters is so revealing of that period in time. It lays the emotions of the women left behind during war time right out in the open for all to feel and experience. This book has become a part of my life. I work at a college and when we have a program that needs a reading done I am always called on to read from "my" book of WWII letters from home. I feel like these letters are my children and each one is crying out to be heard and I really do hate to have to pick only a couple to read. This book is that good. I feel that this book should be read by everybody especially young people. I get very good response after my readings and some very emotional responses as well. This is a truly wonderful book and I recommend it to everyone.

From the training camps of Texas to the insect invested jungles of the far flung Pacific and from the Red Cross Clubmobiles in the UK to occupied Japan, this book really tells through carefully collected correspondance what the women did "over there." Theirs was an important contribution to the huge war effort and was the foundation of the feminist movement of the sixties. While these normal and healthy young women bemoaned the lack of and longed for hot showers, beauty salons and the latest fashions, not one let their vanity get in the way of their work. They did it all on the war front. Cared for the sick, organized and ordered supplies, and delivered new planes. These were the women of the Army Nurse Corps, the Navy Nurses, the WAVES, WACS and SPARS. The women of the American Red Cross were just as important and I was fascinated to learn that they too were taught how to handle firearms and themselves in all wartime situations.

Through the words of these women, we hear about their friends, love life, battles, air raids and typical military humor. Their thoughts always strayed toward home, but they were all in agreement about one thing. They would not trade places. Each knew that this experience would change them forever. I am sure it did. Their successful work during that time certainly changed the roles of all women forever.