Voices of War: Stories of Service from the Home Front and the Front Lines

The Voices of War does an extraordinary job of melding together the experiences of average Americans who answered the call to service in any one of the major conflicts fought by the U.S. in the 1900s. Veterans from World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam contributed memoirs, sat for interviews, and sent letters that captured their impressions of their time in uniform. The book is subdivided so that similar experiences are grouped together. For example, one chapter deals with the wait for and then the actual homecomings the contributors experienced, whether it was World War I, Korea, or another war. Another deals with the entry into military life, and the unique challenges that were far different from what they had known in civilian life. One notable item about the book is its effort to provide a good amount of material concerning women veterans, with stories that span all four conflicts. While most of them are nursing related, each shares a personal, compelling narrative that shows the strong feelings that came with the jobs they performed, especially those that concern taking care of wounded soldiers away from home. With a large number of World War II veterans disappearing each year now, this offers perhaps one last chance for the average person to know what happened, how it happened, and why things happened the way they did in the wars that challenged America's sons and daughters overseas.

VOICES OF WAR is the product of the Veterans History Project form the Library of Congress. It is a book of letters, notes, memoirs, paintings, drawings, photographs, and other memorabilia from World War I through World War II through the Korean War through the Vietnam War to the Persian Gulf War. The quality of paper is the highest obtainable for books, the photograph and art reproductions are superb, and the graphic layout of the letters and memos and interviews are excellent. So as a book it ranks as an Art book. But that is only the superficial gloss that binds this body of thoughts that have survived a century of warfare. Here are the responses of men and women who volunteered or were drafted, the families and sweethearts left on American soil to keep vigil for those who would return and those who would not. Images of entertainers such as Bob Hope and Martha Raye and the countless others who brought some sense of credibility to the 'cause' worth fighting for are juxtaposed with photos of buddies, of backhome families, and with posters and paintings that accompanied those wars. The most impressive portion of this book is the interviews conducted by volunteers, young men and women who listened and recorded countless hours of reminiscences from veterans, nurses, families - the spectrum of those stamped with wars' tattoos. Some read as though script for Audie Murphy films: some read with hidden pain and permanent wounds like those of British poet Wilfrid Owen. And in the end this book simply bears witness to the horror of the history of WAR. How timely for this book to arrive on the shelves when yet again we as a nation that should have learned from history are capturing more material for, unfortunately, another volume. When will we learn? Perhaps if everyone reads this excellent book, there may be hope. Grady Harp, Veterans' Day 2004