This book is an energetic and enjoyable read, offering more of the roller coaster emotions evoked by the film Saving Private Ryan, but from the real-life perspective of Eli Ellison, WWII veteran and ordinary hero of the Greatest Generation. One moment GIs are laughing and the next, one of them is blown apart by enemy fire and it is all riveting. It is a type of memoir, one of letters and history and it is advertised as 90% true, with names and other incidentals changed to protect the guilty and the innocent.
The sex scenes are claimed 100% true and are often hilarious if rather raw, proving a believable addition to a coming of age subplot. This novel is the story of the reality for young soldiers in the European theater during the second half of WWII.
Eli Ellison and his son Mark present Eli's story from the perspective of youth through the filter of age and wisdom. In our time of Iraq and other wars, young men and women contemplating a stint in the armed services should read it. In doing so, they will be better prepared for things to come. Our World War II vets and their families will experience fond memories and filed-away sadnesses in meeting the pages of this book. It may help to bring some measure of peace as a tribute to that era, the men and women of America who served in that war, and their families.
Adults who know little of the 1940s and the war will be fascinated and emotionally moved. Many returning veterans never spoke of the war or their related experiences, wanting only to forget. Still, many have been burdened by the vivid recall of the horrors of war and survivor guilt, so their stories remained untold. This important book is a chance for catharsis as well as a tribute that they whole-heartedly deserve.
Eli Ellison and his son Mark present Eli's story from the perspective of youth through the filter of age and wisdom. In our time of Iraq and other wars, young men and women contemplating a stint in the armed services should read it. In doing so, they will be better prepared for things to come. Our World War II vets and their families will experience fond memories and filed-away sadnesses in meeting the pages of this book. It may help to bring some measure of peace as a tribute to that era, the men and women of America who served in that war, and their families.
Adults who know little of the 1940s and the war will be fascinated and emotionally moved. Many returning veterans never spoke of the war or their related experiences, wanting only to forget. Still, many have been burdened by the vivid recall of the horrors of war and survivor guilt, so their stories remained untold. This important book is a chance for catharsis as well as a tribute that they whole-heartedly deserve.
The Greatest Generation is aging into their 80s and 90s now, and Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel is homage to their lives and trials. The Elisons’ book lifts a generation from the pages into real lives and personalities. We see that their days are not at all run of the mill. Each day in the life of an American was precious during this era, since America was fighting to retain her freedom and that of smaller nations needing her help.
The US was fighting Nazi fascism and inhuman imperialist regimes in order to keep dictatorship across the sea and off American soil. Compared to the Greatest Generation, Hitler’s and Hirohito’s God-denying armies seemed like flesh-eating aliens from the period Flash Gordon film serials. Americans, by contrast, included farmers, factory workers, teachers, and priests who loved America with a burning patriotism and generally believed in her victory, God, and swing music.
In Belgium, Eli’s buddy "Ken" says: "If you don't believe, then life really is a crapshoot…" The characters and the 100+ actual letters home evoke chuckles, laughter, and outright bawling in their ability to cause readers to relate to the events. They could be experiences of members of our own families. I know they were similar to my Great Uncle Frank’s – he came home in a coffin with a glass inner cover to protect funeral goers from foreign disease.
The US was fighting Nazi fascism and inhuman imperialist regimes in order to keep dictatorship across the sea and off American soil. Compared to the Greatest Generation, Hitler’s and Hirohito’s God-denying armies seemed like flesh-eating aliens from the period Flash Gordon film serials. Americans, by contrast, included farmers, factory workers, teachers, and priests who loved America with a burning patriotism and generally believed in her victory, God, and swing music.
In Belgium, Eli’s buddy "Ken" says: "If you don't believe, then life really is a crapshoot…" The characters and the 100+ actual letters home evoke chuckles, laughter, and outright bawling in their ability to cause readers to relate to the events. They could be experiences of members of our own families. I know they were similar to my Great Uncle Frank’s – he came home in a coffin with a glass inner cover to protect funeral goers from foreign disease.
This book nostalgically presents a series of V-mail letters sent home from the front, backed up by well-grounded history. Eli served in the US Army Air Corps as a radio truck operator for the 327th Fighter Control Squadron in Western Europe for two years, 1943 - 1945. He had wanted a more glamorous position, but he ruined that by temporarily going AWOL with a buddy, so he served out his time with the truck and radio. His wartime letters were transcribed from his original V-mail letters to his parents and sister Ethel.
Two images of actual V-mail letters in Eli’s handwriting and containing the US Army Censor's official stamp are included in the book, along with 9 pages of photographs and 35 pages of notes. They bring the phenomenon of V-mail and wartime correspondence to life. These examples are fascinating. V-mail was a one-page letter that folded into its own envelope, like some novelty stationary notes today. Invented by the Brits, they were microfilmed to reduce cargo space in Army airplanes, shipped, and then enlarged again in the States.
The letters cover a lot of ground, including secrets of our Fighter Control System, the Battle of the Bulge, D-Day, Omaha Beach, the Normandy Invasion, London blitzes, snipers, buzz bombers, evading death, and a heart-breaking love affair unimaginably dashed to bits near the end of the war.
Two images of actual V-mail letters in Eli’s handwriting and containing the US Army Censor's official stamp are included in the book, along with 9 pages of photographs and 35 pages of notes. They bring the phenomenon of V-mail and wartime correspondence to life. These examples are fascinating. V-mail was a one-page letter that folded into its own envelope, like some novelty stationary notes today. Invented by the Brits, they were microfilmed to reduce cargo space in Army airplanes, shipped, and then enlarged again in the States.
The letters cover a lot of ground, including secrets of our Fighter Control System, the Battle of the Bulge, D-Day, Omaha Beach, the Normandy Invasion, London blitzes, snipers, buzz bombers, evading death, and a heart-breaking love affair unimaginably dashed to bits near the end of the war.
It is fascinating how soldiers experienced coming of age during a war on far continent that killed more individuals than any other war, and perhaps more than all our wars combined. An excerpt from Don describes a war buddy in Belgium:
"I noticed that my friend had aged a great deal over the past two years. Ken was only twenty-seven, but his temples had already gone grey. The lines were etched deeply into his forehead, and there were crow's feet around the corners of his eyes. He hadn't shaved in several days and smelled of cigarettes..."
Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel would interest anyone from high-school age and older--any reader appreciates untold stories from the Greatest Generation. Brought to light by Tom Hanks and Saving Private Ryan, recent Washington DC Memorial Day concerts, and the WWII memorial project Hanks has advocated, we need to hear the larger story of WWII and its soldiers.
At a recent DC Memorial Day concert, a renowned actor shared his own soldiering experiences on the beach on D-Day and cried on national television. Young people watching Saving Private Ryan when it premiered came out of the auditoriums and hugged 80-year-old veterans standing in the lobbies, soldiers whom they had previously ignored as "just old men." This book will bring the same appreciation to its readers as a classic tribute to Eli Ellison and the Greatest Generation.
"I noticed that my friend had aged a great deal over the past two years. Ken was only twenty-seven, but his temples had already gone grey. The lines were etched deeply into his forehead, and there were crow's feet around the corners of his eyes. He hadn't shaved in several days and smelled of cigarettes..."
Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel would interest anyone from high-school age and older--any reader appreciates untold stories from the Greatest Generation. Brought to light by Tom Hanks and Saving Private Ryan, recent Washington DC Memorial Day concerts, and the WWII memorial project Hanks has advocated, we need to hear the larger story of WWII and its soldiers.
At a recent DC Memorial Day concert, a renowned actor shared his own soldiering experiences on the beach on D-Day and cried on national television. Young people watching Saving Private Ryan when it premiered came out of the auditoriums and hugged 80-year-old veterans standing in the lobbies, soldiers whom they had previously ignored as "just old men." This book will bring the same appreciation to its readers as a classic tribute to Eli Ellison and the Greatest Generation.
