TrishRadebaugh
The story begins in the summer of 1942 set at a naval base in Norfolk, Virginia.
As the United States enters the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, a young naval recruit from a small, rural town in Georgia is fired up about going to serve his country.
Europe lay under German domination after a successful advance in the summer of 1942. With the defeat at the battle of Stalingrad in late 1942, the story takes us through the series of events from the summer of 1942- 45 as told to his "Mamma" back home in Georgia .
These letters depict the special relationship he shares with his mother, his naivety and the experiences he shares in becoming indoctrinated with war life. Lawson has never been outside of Georgia and he shares his wonder and amazement as he is sent to a series of naval training bases throughout the U.S. and is exposed to men and women quite different from himself, along with sights and experiences he never could have imagined from his sheltered upbringing.
The letters take us through his emotions in dealing with the reality of the war, his own tragedy at home and his brush with death not once but twice as an aerial gunner in the south Pacific.