Capturing WWII Stories, One Veteran at a Time
During the early 1940s, Ivan Detwiler attended North Side High School in Fort Wayne. His family, like many, had little money. In September 1943, Detwiler quit school to enlist in the Navy. He was 16 years old. While stationed in Japan in December 1945, Detwiler wired a 50-foot fir tree for lights. “It was the... Continue Reading →
This past weekend we celebrated my second book launch for my latest book, Voices From Vietnam: Stories of War. If you’ve never attended this type of event, you may not understand its purpose. The goal is to introduce the public to a book on a personal level. Readers can meet the author and hear about... Continue Reading →
Vets front: Fritz Bultemeyer (Army), Randy Harnish (Army), Jose Huerta (Navy), Rod Maller (Army), me. Back: John Senac, Jr. (Army), Dennis Covert (Navy), Lanny Idle (Air Force), Mike Dean (Army), John Reusser-- Vietnam War-era vet/ husband of author (Air Force). This past weekend we celebrated the second book launch for my latest book, Voices From... Continue Reading →
Army vet Mike Blough greets Army vet Fritz Bultemeyer and Air Force vet Dr. Al Brothers. Mrs. Bultemeyer, also an Army vet, looks on. Whew! The book launch for Voices From Vietnam: Stories of War in my hometown of Bluffton Indiana is over! A great group of people showed up at the Wells County Public... Continue Reading →
My first book of Vietnam War veteran stories has just released! 'Voices From Vietnam: Stories of War' is available on Amazon. Voices from Vietnam: Stories of War is a compilation of 18 stories from male veterans, including those who fought in the Tet Offensive, served as a tunnel rat, flew a damaged chopper carrying wounded... Continue Reading →
Bill Current served aboard an LST in the Pacific. Today’s story is taken from Book 3 in my World War II Legacies series: We Gave Our Best: American WWII Veterans Tell Their Stories. Note: The books do not have to be read in order. Each of the four books in the series are filled with... Continue Reading →
I met Francis, or ‘Link’ as he preferred to be called, Holmes in his nursing home around 2012. This was early in my interviews with 260 World War II veterans so I don't recall who told me about him. He was happy to tell about his years as a sailor in World War II. I... Continue Reading →
Photo taken inside the IN War Memorial Museum in Indianapolis. As we celebrate the anniversary of our nation’s freedoms, I reflect on the World War II stories I’ve heard and written about in the past decade. Dean Reckard of Huntington, Indiana, was part of the D-Day invasion in June 1944. Stories of pilots and soldiers... Continue Reading →
Charlie Conrad served aboard the USS Farquhar during WWII. I met World War II Navy veteran Charlie Conrad several years ago at a patriotic picnic gathering near my home. He had a ball cap with a Navy design on it and so I approached him (as I have done with many veterans) to ask if... Continue Reading →
In honor of Military Appreciation Week, I'm posting daily stories of vets. Today is an excerpt of WWII Navy vet Louis Bowman. His full story is told in my book, We Defended Freedom: Adventures of WWII Veterans. There is a special opportunity at the end of this post -- be sure to read to the... Continue Reading →
Writing of Kayleen Reusser 