We Gave Our Best: American WWII Veterans Tell Their Stories is Ready to Order!

We Gave Our Best: American WWII Veterans Tell Their Stories, Volume 3 in my WWII Legacies, is completed and I could not be more proud!

From the beautiful cover to the 34 stories and dozens of war-time photos inside, We Gave Our Best: American WWII Veterans Tell Their Stories is just as professional-looking and informational as I had hoped.

The cover is a little different from Book 2 in the same series – They Did It for Honor: Stories of American WWII Veterans.

While that title used photos loaned to me by veterans in the book on the front/back covers, this new book has photos of the veterans themselves on the covers.

With the development of each book, I’ve tried to bring their stories closer to the reader to make that time in history seem more real. It seemed appropriate to put the veterans’ own young faces on the front and back covers to make that happen.

 

Another difference with Book 3 is that I have ventured further afield for interviews. The new book includes stories from seven states outside of the Midwest. I love providing diversity in cultural backgrounds and locales.

Here is a list of names of veterans featured in the new book and their states of residence:

Dr. Justin Arata (IN)

Paul Bandelier (IN)

George Banky (IA)

Frank Bever (IN)

Evelyn Brown (IN)

Francis Bushong (IN)

Dennis Butler (IN)

Lucille Clarke (IN)

Eugene Cogan (IN)

Willis Colburn (IN)

Bart Corricelli (FL)

William Current (IN)

Ed Dager (IN)

William Dunn (IN)

Betty Dybbro (WA)

Mark Flanagan (IN)

Orval Haaff (IN)

Marceil Harris (IN)

Robert Heiny (IN)

Lowell Hughes (NM)

Harrison Hull (IN)

Hamilton Hunter (IN)

Gus Nagy (IN)

Fred Odiet (IN)

Hubert Pensinger (IN)

Alvin Ping (IN)

Paul Rider (IN)

Wilbert Seibold (IN)

William Smith (IN)

Leo Terrebonne (LA)

Vaughan Whitworth (CA)

Duane Wise (IN)

Rudolph Wuttke (IN)

Paul Young (IN)

My first book in the WWII Legacies series has undergone a transformation at the same time. First, it has a new title: We Fought to Win: American World War II Veterans Share Their Stories.

Then, I repeated the practice of putting veteran photos on the covers. Third, the book’s content was increased with many more photos; the 28 stories remain the same.

The three books look similar with a ribbon at the top of each revealing its respective number in the series. All three books are available on Amazon.

With two and sometimes three photos of the veterans and/or war-related material each story has additional educational value. Fort Wayne Community School system has purchased copies of each of my first two books for their middle and high school libraries. I love the thought of these stories helping to develop patriotism in young minds.

I’ll be posting more about these books and related projects in future posts. Stay tuned for an opportunity to meet some of the veterans from We Gave Our Best: American WWII Veterans Tell Their Stories at a special event in November!

What do you think of the new looks of the books? What suggestions do you have for future writing projects about military veterans?

Remember to thank a veteran today for his/ her service!