When he returned home following the war he wrote this journal. Aunt Kathleen found it about eight years ago in the bottom of a box. A wealth of credit should be given her for writing it all out in a readable longhand. It must have taken much thought and time. I especially want to thank her for asking me to try to put it all together, because this is an experience I'll always remember. It afforded me the opportunity to know things about Grandpa that I never would have known. And I think it shows just how curious is God's plan for us all, because in so many instances Grandpa narrowly escaped disaster. But he survived, and many of us owe our very lives to that fact.
If you read this -- and I hope you do, very carefully -- I think you'll experience many of the same feelings I did while typing it. Some portions of the actual journal are not included, particularly many of Grandpa's thoughts about the government's treatment of veterans readjusting from the nightmarish experience. Perhaps in the future we'll bind those together as well.
But for now, I'm not going to feel badly about putting those stars and stripes on the cover. They're not there to glorify the war in any way. They honor Grandpa, and I hope they show how much added respect I have for him. I know you'll have the same after reading this.
- Tom