Veteran Recall

To be published in spring 2004 by Editions Heimdal both in an English and a French edition (under the title Souvenirs de GI's: Vétérans américains en France.

This collection of reminiscences and poems of American veterans residing in France brings alive the realities of WWII, particularly in France, but also in North Africa, the South Pacific, England, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Germany.

Many compelling images emerge from these seventeen stories: a secret agent launching kayaks in cold Algerian waters, a six-foot-two sergeant wading ashore at Utah Beach, an American medic treating a German soldier in a Norman church, a young Frenchman hiding an American airman in a shepherd's hut, a commander crawling over to a burning tank to save one of his "boys", a WAC dancing in the streets of Paris on V-E Day.

Accompanying biographical details allow the reader to place names on the images and to learn what the people interviewed did before and after the war. Some of these have been (or were before they passed away) active members of the American community in France; others have led more quiet lives. All share their wartime memories in an extremely visual and personal way. The inclusion of attractive old photographs both on the cover and in the insert give added historical interest.

Veteran Recall: Americans in France Remember the War makes for fascinating reading and is a lasting tribute to the contributions of Word War II veterans in general, and of those living in France, in particular.