My writing has evolved over the past several years. After writing a wide range of articles/books ranging from business, travel, women’s, Christian, children’s, I am now focusing on World War II stories. I feel there is an urgent need to get these stories, many of which have never been told, in print for future generations to appreciate.
So far, I have interviewed 260 WWII vets from around the US. I’m active with military groups, online and in-person. I hope to share much of their thoughts and actions with readers at this blog.
My first book in the WWII Legacies series is We Fought to Win: American World War II Veterans Share Their Stories. It contains 28 stories of men and women who served in various branches of the American military during WWII.
The second book, They Did It for Honor: Stories of American WWII Veterans, has stories with 100+ photos, many never-before-published, including one taken during the liberation of Buchenwald.
The third book in the series is 
We Gave Our Best: American WWII Veterans Tell Their Stories.
In June 2019, to honor the 75th anniversary of the Allied landings in France, I published
D-Day: Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen Tell about Normandy. The book is filled with personal accounts of vets I’ve interviewed who were part of this world-changing event.
In Sept 2019 I took a different approach. While interviewing WWII vets during the past several years, I heard stories of people who as children/teens endured the challenges of the war — starvation, separation from family, running from the enemy and more. My book,
It Was Our War Too: Youth in the Shadows of WWII, tells the stories of men/women who as young people endured the war and later emigrated to the US to start new lives. Not every story is harrowing– one high school gal worked as a Rosie the Riveter making a Top Secret part which she only was told about years later. Another young girl won a prize for her Victory Garden. Positive comments about this book has caused me to start gathering stories for a second volume!
You’ll notice the book covers feature photos from people inside the books. Each book is filled with photos, some taken by the vets in the book. They are all large print.
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After completing a 10-day WWII trip to Europe, I’ve presented a 45-min Power Point presentation to 1000s of people at libraries, retirement communities, civic /religious groups. Please contact me for more information.
Thanks to every veteran for his/her service!
I am not a veteran but a survivor of WWII. I was born in Latvia in 1936 and spent the last years of the war in Germany fleeing the Red army.
Aivars: Thanks for sending me your note about your personal history. I’d like to know more. Can you please email me at KayleenReusser@gmail.com? I’ll be in touch soon. Thanks!
My father was a Riga policeman and when the Nazis invaded he joined the Latvian Legion to fight against the Soviets. The Russians had been so mean that most Latvians looked upon the Nazis as liberators. When we knew that the Russians where coming back, my mother and I left Riga barely ahead of the invaders. We spent the rest of the war dodging American and British bombers. My father disappeared somewhere on the eastern front and my mother died at the DP camp in Mannheim. I was eventually sponsonerd by The Lutheran Child Welfare Associasion and came to America aboard the USS Marine Marlin and ended up at an orphanage in Indianapolis.
Aivars: Thanks for this info. I’d be very interested in speaking with you. You will hear from me soon! Take care,