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Letters from World War II

The book is a biography of my parents lives during WWII while separated by the war during which my father was a Navigator on a B-17 flying bombing missions over Germany. The events that affected their lives when he was shot down, captured and a Prisoner of War of the Germans. The story emerges from letters they wrote each other and historical war telegrams and documents they saved from the war years.

Letters from World War II is the story of my parents lives during the war years that unfolds through the letters they wrote each other while apart. World War II was a time most of us cannot imagine today. Lives were interrupted, dreams and hopes put on hold while the war raged. My parents’ lives were affected by my father’s enlistment in the Army Air Corps. As a navigator on a B-17 bomber, he left for England to fly bombing raids over Germany and my mother did not see him for two years. Shot down, parachuting out of a burning plane and captured by the Germans, he spent 16 months in a German Prisoner of War camp. At War’s end stranded in East Germany and under Russian control, the POWs almost did not get home until a dramatic air rescue was organized to get them out. This is a must read story of one couples lives during the war.

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Book Reviews

Camille-Yvette Welsch

“Barbara Jane Hannon’s family memoir Letters from World War II is about the harrowing early years of her parents’ marriage.

George Hannon and Dorothy Snouffer began dating in high school. Their romance escalated after graduation when they reconnected at a friend’s wedding. But Dorothy lived with her parents in Iowa and George with his in Minnesota. Facing a long-distance relationship, they wrote letters to continue their courtship. Later, George opted for an eighteen-month enlistment, fearing “the long arm of the Army on [his] shoulder” and the possibility of being drafted into a branch that he did not want. He dreamed of becoming a pilot. Separated from his Dorothy by virtue of his duty, he continued writing to her.

The book moves through George’s rise through basic training into his eventual entry into the Air Corps Academy and the war itself. It covers how, while serving as navigator, he escaped from a burning plane by parachute. Later, he worked as a bookie in a POW camp run by Nazis, facing starvation and other deprivations.

Such information is pieced together using both George’s letters and the historical record. The text includes photographs of official documents, letters, and other pieces of ephemera for clarity. There are details regarding the impact of the International Red Cross Committee and of personal care and YMCA packages for the interred soldiers too.

Over nine thousand men were imprisoned with George at Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany, along the Baltic Sea, and the book is quite exhaustive when it comes to detailing the imprisoned soldiers’ days. It covers what they wore, what they ate, and relations between prisoners and guards. There’s information about the college that officers set up to educate their fellow prisoners as well, George’s role as bookie, and about how an underground newspaper was printed on toilet paper.

Some of the book’s information is shared in the style of reportage, though, with the nuances of scenes falling to the wayside in service of a complete record. Better established are the relationships between the imprisoned men—and the relationship between the central couple. While George was imprisoned, the book notes, Dorothy experienced ongoing fear; she also worked to provide him solace from a distance, sending cake mixes, fresh socks, and cherished memories, awaiting his improbable liberation.

Letters from World War II is a fascinating family memoir covering a soldier’s wartime bravery and sacrifices.”

Kirkus Review

“Hannon’s biography draws on her parents’ correspondence during the Second World War.

This debut has an origin story that’s worthy of a Hollywood movie. When Hannon and her sisters were clearing out the family home after their mother’s death, they found two boxes in Dorothy’s bedroom closet. One was a collection of World War II memorabilia, including documents, news clippings, and photos, and the other was a cache of letters between Dorothy and their late father, George. The two were teenagers together in 1930s Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and they’d only been wed for a brief period in 1943 when George shipped out to England to serve in the U.S. Air Force. “Although neither of them knew at the time,” Hannon writes, “they would not see each other for almost two years, not until the war ended.” In the following pages, she presents their correspondence, including reproductions of Western Union telegrams, letters with marvelous prewar cursive handwriting, and plenty of family photos, mostly in color.Hannon extensively contextualizes the letters, relating everything from day-to-day details of Dorothy’s and George’s lives in the ’30s and the war years to the tense drama of George parachuting out of a burning plane in January 1944 and spending more than a year as a prisoner of war in Germany.The extensive detail creates a compelling picture of the lived experience of the World War II era. Dorothy’s letters to George are particularly winning, as in one dated May 1, 1944, when she was thinking of enjoying spring days with him upon his return: “You know we never had a chance to enjoy spring together, much less fall and winter….Let’s go on picnics and take the car out for nowhere in particular.” Hannon and her siblings should be cheered for so lovingly preserving these records.

An enchanting epistolary account of a wartime love story.”

BlueInk Review

“George and Dorothy’s tale is a winning one. While the love story at the heart of the memoir provides the emotional core, the historical elements are equally compelling”

Elizabeth Gatewell, Librarian

“What an enduring love story! Using primary documents and letters, writer/curator Barbara Hannon allows us vicarious entry into the world of her parents during a time when the rest of the world was on fire. I cried my way through parts of it, recognizing the connections of family, a Midwest location, and a love that would not be tamped down by the constraints and deprivations of WW II.”