Free eBooks War Bonds: Love Stories From The Greatest Generation Available To Downloads
America’s World War II is most often told through the stories of its great battles, when an entire generation of our young men was suddenly thrust across the oceans to represent the New World in deadly combat against the great powers of the Old. On sea, in the air, and on land our boys fought against totalitarian powers that threatened to overturn the American ideal of liberty for every individual, even civilization itself. But while often forgotten, America’s women participated too. On the home front they were more than willing to share in the hardships of wartime, and in countless cases they fairly lived and breathed with support for our troops overseas. Whether working in factories or taking care of families, rationing or volunteering, their unflagging support contributed more to our victories than has ever been told. Young people have been falling in love since time began, but romance during a global conflagration brought a unique set of challenges. The uncertainty of the time led to an abundance of couples marrying quickly, after brief courtships. Others grew closer through intermittent correspondence, in which the soldier was often censored by officers, yet true longing from both sides invariably came through. It was the worst time of all to try to have a relationship, yet amazingly, thousands of couples created lifelong bonds. From blind dates to whirlwind romances to long separations, War Bonds highlights stories of couples who met or married during WWII. Each of the 30 stories begins with a World War II-era song title and concludes with a look at wartime couples in their twilight, as well as when they were so hopeful and young and determined to save the world. Illustrated with photographs from the 1940s as well as current ones of each couple, War Bonds offers readers a glimpse of bygone days, as well as a poignant glimpse of our own. During history’s greatest war it was no time to start a relationship. But many among our young men and women did so regardless, and in this book we see how amazingly the “war bonds” of that World War II generation so frequently endured.
File Size: 57591 KB
Print Length: 216 pages
Publisher: Casemate Publishers (February 10, 2015)
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Sold by: Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00T5H5EXM
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #467,497 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #88 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Military Families #1884 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Relationships > Love & Romance #2176 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Military > World War II
War BondsLove Stories from the Greatest GenerationBy Cindy Hval(Reviewed by D. Andrew McChesney) Several years ago, Cindy Hval, a writer for the Spokesman-Review began a series of feature articles about couples who met and married before, during, or immediately after World War II. Responses to these stories about members of our Greatest Generation were so positive that she combined thirty-six of them into a single volume. For a child of those of the Greatest Generation, the stories and pictures proved to be a nostalgic trip back in time. I do not know any of those folks highlighted in the book, and it is quite probable that they did not know my parents. (A later newspaper story did feature a couple who live directly behind us, and whose daughter was friends for years with my mom and sister.) Yet the pictures remind me of one’s I remember from my childhood. Even the way these couples met brings to mind family tales of how my folks met. (Something about Dad going to look at a horse and meeting the woman he would marry!) Most impressive about all of these folks is that they stayed together throughout the decades. Each of the stories features bits of wisdom from the couples on how to achieve that marital longevity. With members of the Greatest Generation leaving us at an ever increasing rate, Cindy’s efforts to help us remember their courage, their love, their dedication to the nation and to each other is truly inspirational. This book is a great way to remember the best of our parents or grandparents.
I just received my book 3 days ago, and couldn't put it down! Each story is so personal, poignant, and inspiring! These couples faced so many BIG issues; but at the time they were going through them - it was just what they needed to do - whether it was serving their country, working in defense plants or other government positions during WWII, and doing without for the good of our country. They did all this without complaint, and even today, those few WWII vets still live their lives without complaint, but with dignity and humbleness. Cindy Hval is an excellent story-teller of the great tradition - share the story in a way that it appeals to every reader. I highly recommend this book to all - and hope that it will soon be a movie!!!
It is so refreshing to read love stories from couples that have been married under the hardest of situations. Cindy does a wonderful job of telling the stories of 36 different couples in the northwest, mostly in the Spokane area. It is a great addition to the collection of war stories. Cindy manages to tell about the really hard moments in battle and sometimes in marriages but the couples never gave up. They were true to the vows they had made, and determined to stay together. If only modern couples could see tight situations and true love make for tight marriages. I loved the way every story sounded fresh and new and was told with a sense of humor and joy. Cindy is a talented columnist with the Spokesman Review, Her dad was a career military person, so she knew first hand the problems with military families and yet makes these love stories a real joy.
This is a book of vignettes. Each couple tells a bit of their story- perhaps how they met, how the War separated them, or how they reconnected with each other after returning from the War. There was one common thread that ran through each story, though. Each of the couples had been married for many, many years. And each couple had something to impart to the reader about how they kept their love alive over the decades.The overwhelming sense I got of these people is that they were ordinary people in extraordinary times. They were called to action in one form or another and they went. The women they left behind wrote, worked, raised kids if they had them and carried on. It must have been unbelievably hard going from day to day- wondering if your husband was going to come home. There was no sense that any of them believed they were being heroic and yet, in their own way, each of them were.This was a book that made me happy and sad at the same time. The stories were interesting. The history- of each individual's action in World War II and how the U.S. was nearly 75 years ago- was fascinating. As war decimated countries and continents overseas the people left here did what was necessary to keep home and hearth together, not knowing what the next day would bring. Sometimes the pictures were hard. I would look at the snapshots of these young vibrant people and try to see them in the pictures of the couples who had been together for sixty or even seventy or more years and wonder if they missed being young. Then I would think about my marriage and hope that we would be as lucky as they were. That we would be lucky enough to have each other for years and years and then be able to look back and know how blessed we were in having each other, our daughter and grandchildren to carry us forward, and I hope that I can do as well as they did.
Tender love stories surrounded by the hard times of world war. Story after story captured my imagination. I couldn't put the book down. Committed faithful love stands in stark contrast to the standard of today. Hval draws the reader into the hearts and minds of the young people facing huge upheaval in their lives. Their commitment to this nation and their loved ones inspires. This book is a real and tangible way to honor those who have served our country and keep the memories of those days gone by alive. The photographs are beautiful and a nice touch. You will not be disappointed in this book. Get one for yourself and one to give.
War Bonds: Love Stories from the Greatest Generation World War 1: Soldier Stories: The Untold Soldier Stories on the Battlefields of WWI (World War I, WWI, World War One, Great War, First World War, Soldier Stories) Vietnam War: The Vietnam War in 50 Events: From the First Indochina War to the Fall of Saigon (War Books, Vietnam War Books, War History) (History in 50 Events Series Book 6) World War 2 History's 10 Most Incredible Women: World War II True Accounts Of Remarkable Women Heroes (WWII history, WW2, War books, world war 2 books, war history, World war 2 women) Ouija Board Stories: Chilling True Horror Stories Of Ouija Boards Gone Wrong (Ouija Board Stories, Ghost Stories, True Horror Stories, Ouija Board Nightmares, Haunted Places Book 1) World War 2: German Tank Crew Stories: Eyewitness Accounts (German War, WW2, World War II, Soldier Stories, Waffen SS, Last Panther, DDay, Panzer, Hitler Book 1) The Vietnam War: Soldier Stories: Untold Tales of Soldiers on the Battlefields of the Vietnam War (Vietnam war, soldier stories, Gunship Pilot, Marine Corp, Vietnam History, Vietnam memoirs) World War 1: World War I in 50 Events: From the Very Beginning to the Fall of the Central Powers (War Books, World War 1 Books, War History) (History in 50 Events Series) World War 2: World War II in 50 Events: From the Very Beginning to the Fall of the Axis Powers (War Books, World War 2 Books, War History) (History in 50 Events Series Book 4) Unbreakable Stories: Lucas (Unbreakable Bonds Series) Fifty Shades of Narcissism: Your Brain on Love, Sex and the Narcissist: The Biochemical Bonds That Create an Addiction to Our Abusers Building the Bonds of Attachment: Awakening Love in Deeply Troubled Children Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue (Guilford Family Therapy (Paperback)) German Home Cooking: More Than 100 Authentic German Recipes; Passed Down from Generation to Generation GENERATION Z: How this Generation is Different from Millinals (What Parents Need to Know) The Things Our Fathers Saw: The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation from Hometown, USA-Voices of the Pacific Theater Bizarre True Stories: Weird And Unusual True Stories Of The Paranormal, Strange Sightings, Eerie True Ghost Stories And Unexplained Phenomena (True Paranormal ... True Ghost Stories And Hauntings) Ghost Stories: Petrifying True Ghost Stories Of The Undead And Their Supernatural Tales (Ghost Stories, True Ghost Stories, Conspiracy Theories, True Ghost ... And Hauntings, Haunted Asylums, Book 1) True Ghost Stories And Hauntings: Horrifying True Paranormal Hauntings From The Last 300 Years: Creepy True Ghost Stories And Accounts (True Ghost Stories, True Paranormal, Bizarre True Stories)
