Introduction

Elaine and Foster’s Story1

INTRODUCTION2

I was “commissioned” to write a book about my parent’s love and endurance during World War II.  My commission was handed to me by my Mom during endless nights of her reading and rereading my father’s letters to me. That was many years ago.3

So here I am today. I’ve found the boxes full of these letters resting in peace in my basement. Some of the letters are loose; some are neatly wrapped in brown paper and tied neatly with 60 year old cord. It’s almost shameful to cut the cord and free the letters. But I am doing this - looking at the letters, that is. I am trying to do what my Mom, in her grief over my father’s death and in her own addiction to rye whiskey, wanted me to do. 4

I'm not sure what my commission really is. I don’t know what I will find. I do know that I’ve carried these hundreds of letters with me wherever I moved to. The are like precious relics - sacred items. Perhaps opening them will them will open me up to new revelations about my parents or new insights into my own life.5

I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and that all things work to the good for those whose hearts are right. I guess it’s my commission to see what meaning I can find in these letters. I hope they will work for my good. I hope others too will benefit from these letters.6