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In the winter of 1944-45, Stuart attorney Bob Parenti was an 18 year-old infantryman in the 8thArmored Division, and his main concern was staying alive and keeping his girlfriend, Laurie Sullivan, back in the United States.
He accomplished both goals by surviving the Battle of the Bulge and writing letters home to Laurie - his wife since 1947 - every chance he got.
Parenti joined the Army for a course intended to send him to Officer Candidate School where he would become a second lieutenant, but the needs of the war forced the closure of the course and the transfer of the students to the infantry.
I hadn’t thought about the letters, Parenti said, until I found them in 2001, neatly tied up in a box by Laurie. She had kept them all those years.
The letters tell of the 8th Armored Division’s training at Camp Polk, LA., its assignment to England for the invasion of Europe and its dispatch into Holland just before the surprise German attack in the Battle of the Bulge.
Many of the letters describe Parenti’s views of the Dutch, the Germans and the war, and will be easily understood by most veterans. Nonveterans also will see war from the level of a private first class and not that of the generals.
The letters saved and forgotten until recently discovered, chronicle his experiences in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany during the battles for victory and provide a historical review from the soldiers’ perspective.
Included are photos of war artifacts collected by the author and war damaged areas taken at that time.
