Victory Gardens & Barrage Balloons: A Collective Memoir

Though 4 years younger than the author, Frank Wetzel, I knew many of the people he talked about in Victory Gardens & Barrage Balloons and experienced many of the same places and events he writes about. The girl used as the model on the cover lived not too far away from my family during WWII. I would definitely recommend this book for all Bremertonians but especially those living there between 1930 and 1945. Others may enjoy it as well

Former editor Harwood of The Post has written a 3-page review of the book in the health section re: the importance of oral history. Good reading

The following text is from the back jacket of the book: World War II changed everything. For a kid growing up in Kitsap County (Washington) it meant living at the focal point of the war. It was to Puget Sound Navy Yard that the ghosts of Pearl Harbor returned for repair and renovation. It was a time of astonishing unity and common purpose. For Frank Wetzel and his contemporaries, these years were formative. Look back with them as they recall . . . . Victory Gardens and Barrage Balloons. A history of Bremerton and Kitsap County during World War II. Frank Wetzel was born in Bremerton, Washington in 1926, the grandson of Kitsap County pioneers. He graduated from Bremerton High in 1944 and the University of Washington in 1950. He was an infantryman in Europe in World War II and an infantry officer in the Korean War. He worked as a newsman and executive for the Associated Press in Salt Lake City, Denver, and Portland, OR. He was editor of the Journal-American in Bellevue, Washington from 1977-1986 and was the ombudsman of the Seattle Times from 1987 to 1990. This is his first book.