Lovers in Wartime 1944 to 1945: Letters from then, insights from now…

In the midst of America’s terrifying Pacific War with Japan in 1944, a 27 year old Navy lieutenant met a pretty university coed at an informal party. They spent the next 12 evenings together, falling in love in the San Francisco Bay Area. Separated by circumstances and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, they stayed connected with love letters as he performed his duties as Barracks Officer at Naval Air Station, Alameda and she began her year as President of the Senior Class at the University of Nevada. Fully 153 of their letters are reproduced here, revealing a love aborning with poetry and passion. Enroute, the former lieutenant became a published historian. Now in his late 90s, he brings the Pacific War to life with 12 insightful essays which illustrate the background of chaos and devastation which always threatened to cut this love affair short.