Non-Fiction

Title: Thirty Days with My Father: Finding Peace from Wartime PTSD
Author: Christal Presley, Phd
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Cathryn J. Prince

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0757316468

A soldier's return home from war is often just the beginning of another, more internalized battle. In her memoir, Presley recounts 30 days of interviews with her Vietnam veteran father—conversations in which she attempts to understand her father, his PTSD, and her own lifetime of vicarious traumas. Each day is given a chapter, and each chapter concludes with a "Journal" entry that revisits Presley's tumultuous childhood memories. What emerges from this format is a harrowing portrait of the past's ability to haunt the present; Presley's descriptions of the troubled child she was blend all too easily into the confused and searching adult she becomes. In some cases, she is compelled to go to a Veterans Affairs hospital and even to Vietnam. The book's division into 30 days feels increasingly forced and fragmented with the passing of each chapter. Such a story is, by its very nature, fractured, and by the end of the book Presley's father is no less tormented than he was at Day One. Yet Presley has found stability in her father's story, and her willingness to share it—and her own revelations—will be appreciated by readers who deal with any form of wartime PTSD.

Title: Still Having Fun
Author: Candace George Thompson
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Joyce M. Gilmour

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1937763625

This remarkable biography of a military marriage which lasted from 1941 until 2007 includes everything from letters written in war zones to photographs that chronicle the lives and romance of Rex and Bettie George. Written by their daughter, Candace George Thompson, after their deaths, "Still Having Fun" is a moving testament to the character and resilience of American military families.

Title: Tunesmith Chronicles: A Musical History Tour
Author: Lem Genovese
Genre: Memoir/Autobiography/Creative Nonfiction
Reviewer: Joyce Faulkner

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): B009EUCI7A

The lessons and legacy from our war in Indochina are the stuff of contradiction. There are plenty of negatives should one decide to walk down that misbegotten road. It has been paved with bitterness, resentment, distrust, propaganda and scapegoating which have made it smoother and far easier to tread upon with each passing decade. The far more difficult journey is not found on a marked highway and is much harder to locate. An honest, fact based journal is not just needed should this path be chosen, it should be demanded by our posterity. Veterans from all combat zones need to better understand that responsibility to aid in the process of sharing wisdom, encouraging understanding and healing.

Title: My True Course: Dutch Van Kirk Northumberland to Hiroshima
Author: Suzanne Simon Dietz
Genre: Biography
Reviewer: Charlene Rubush

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0692016767

He looked like the boy next door, a Depression-era kid. The now ninety-year-old gentleman with a remarkable memory and a sharp wit became in 2011 the only living crewman from the Silverplate Boeing B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945.

A debate continued for more than half a century with his former commanding officer, Paul Tibbets, until his death about how Dutch Van Kirk came to navigate the Enola Gay from Tinian to Hiroshima. The answer is part of Dutch's biographical chronicle.

The navigator of the Enola Gay's biography is an authentic "greatest generation" story told through his unedited letters to and from home, Van Kirk's vignettes from his Army Air Corps training through Europe, Africa, and the Pacific to the first atomic strike in history.

Title: A Thousand Letters Home
Author: Teresa K. Irish
Genre: History
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 098395531X

After the death of her father, Aarol W. Bud Irish, in 2006, Teresa Irish opened the Army trunk that had resided in the family home her entire life. There, nestled in row after row, were her Dads nearly 1,000 handwritten letters from WWII. Visited only by him over the course of six decades, the letters were postmarked from November 1942 to December 1945. The fragile and yellowed pages were written to Buds parents and to the sweetheart who would become his wife, Elaine Corbat. From lonesome, moonlit nights listening to the Hit Parade, to the foxholes and front lines in Germany where Bud would receive the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, and two Bronze Stars, to correspondence with the heartbroken mothers whose sons died by his side, this is a moving and historic story of life and loss, hope and perseverance, unwavering faith, and true love. This firsthand account through the eyes, heart, and words of one soldier mirrors the journeys of many who served in WWII - millions of young Americans abruptly pulled from civilian life and thrust into the unfamiliar world of a military at war. At every opportunity, Bud poured out his thoughts and feelings in these letters, all amidst reassuring words to loved ones a world away. The transition from boy to man is apparent in the passing of the weeks, months and years. A selection of these poignant letters and accompanying photographs are contained in the newly published, A Thousand Letters Home. This book is for the children, grandchildren and future descendants of all veterans. This book is for all Americans lest we forget.