Take Me Home

Take Me Home by Dorothy Garlock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A quiet, sleepy town far away from the war…

When Billy Tate is ready to ship off to war, he asks his best friend Olivia Marsten to marry him. Even though Olivia is not in love with Billy, she says yes… because how could she say no? When stranger Peter Becker arrives in town and saves Olivia from being hit by a drunk driver, she really regrets her answer to her best friend, but she can’t let him down. Peter finds himself falling in love with Olivia but is afraid to tell her the truth about his identity and the fact that he’s an escaped German POW. When Olivia’s family is put in terrible danger, the truth finally comes to light.


View all my reviews

We Band of Angels

We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese by Elizabeth M. Norman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once I found out that one of the women captured during World War II by the Japanese in the Philippines was from my own small town of Lonaconing, it was a given that I would read this book. Ninety-nine Navy and Army nurses who were never before exposed to the brutal conditions of war did not realize what was in their future when they signed up for the almost exotic life of hospital nursing, tennis matches, and cocktails. How these women survived is an amazing feat of heroics. The book contains excerpts of diaries, snippets of interviews, and many American and Japanese photos of the nurses on duty before the war, open jungle hospitals, internment camps and starvation, and later ceremonies honoring the women. The author continued the story long after their release from the POW camp. A must read for anyone going into nursing or interested in World War II facts and information.

View all my reviews

Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


How could anyone survive the horrors and degradation of body and soul of World War ll POW camps? Although many men and women did just that, this book focuses on the true story of Louie Zamperini, a troubled youth, an Olympic contender, a bombardier on a B-24, and a survivor of both a plane crash in the Pacific and Japan's POW camps. To top it off, Louie survived the after effects of war on return to the US - flashbacks and PTSD and goes on to create camps for other troubled youth.

I had actually seen an article in Guideposts on the power of the human will and forgiveness and it mentioned Zamperini's experience and piqued my interest. Written by the same amazing author that penned Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken is a goldmine for information on World War ll - a time period in which I've always had an interest. I'm not sure how to put into words the effect this biography had on me. The power of the human spirit is phenomenal....




View all my reviews