Waiting Wives

The Story of Schilling Manor, Home Front to the Vi

Donna Moreau

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780743470773
• eBook ISBN: 9781439118108
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

In 1964, as the first B-52s took flight in what would become America's longest combat mission, an old Air Force base on the plains of Kansas became Schilling Manor -- the only base ever to be set aside for the wives and children of soldiers assigned to Vietnam. Author Donna Moreau was the daughter of one such waiting wife, and here she writes of growing up at a time when The Flintstones were interrupted with news of firefights, fraggings, and protests, when the evening news announced death tolls along with the weather forecasts. The women and children of Schilling Manor fought on the emotional front of the war. It was not a front composed of battle plans and bullets. Their enemies were fear, loneliness, lack of information, and the slow tick of time. Waiting Wives: The Story of Schilling Manor, Home Front to the Vietnam War tells the story of the last generation of hat-and-glove military wives called upon by their country to pack without question, to follow without comment, and to wait quietly with a smile. A heartfelt book that focuses on this other, hidden side of war, Waiting Wives is a narrative investigation of an extraordinary group of women. A compelling memoir and domestic drama, Waiting Wives is also the story of a country in the midst of change, of a country at war with a war.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Preface
• Introduction
• THE BEGINNING
• 735 WHITE ELEPHANTS (1965)
• Beverly ORDERS (1970)
• Lorrayne THE THIRTEENTH MOVE (1965)
• Bonnie AIR KISSES GOOD-BYE (1964-1967)
• Beverly 133 PHOENIX STREET (1970)
• Lorrayne 308 HELENA COURT (1965)
• Bonnie 138 DENVER STREET (1967)
• The Committee SOMETIMES
• Beverly CHRISTMAS (1970)
• Lorrayne MOTHER AND SONS ALONE (1965)
• Bonnie RITUAL (1967)
• Beverly FEAR (1971)
• Lorrayne SILENCE (1965)
• Bonnie ST. VALENTINE’S DAY (1968)
• The Committee TRUNKMAN
• LIVING
• Beverly PRUDENCE (1971)
• Lorrayne THE WAITING WIVES CLUB (1965-1966)
• Bonnie ANOTHER TELEGRAM (1969)
• Beverly THE NEWS (1971)
• Lorrayne DRIED SQUID AND JELL-O (1966)
• Bonnie INVITATIONS (1969)
• The Committee THE NEIGHBOR
• Beverly ONE MINUTE (1971)
• Lorrayne MODEL AIRPLANES (1966)
• Bonnie WHAT DO WE SAY TO OUR CHILDREN? (1969)
• Beverly SUMMER DREAMS (1971)
• Lorrayne PAIN (1966)
• Bonnie BRYAN’S DREAM (1970)
• The Committee THE FARMER
• Beverly THE CURSE OF THE FRENCH (1971)
• Lorrayne THE EASTER BUNNY (1966)
• Bonnie APRIL IN PARIS (1970)
• Beverly LAUREN (1971)
• Lorrayne DISRUPTION (1966)
• Bonnie LOVE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH (1970)
• The Committee THE SEDAN
• Beverly TROUBLE SEEING (1971)
• Bonnie THE FORGOTTEN OF THE FORGOTTEN (1970-1972)
• Beverly WAR (1971)
• LEAVING
• The Committee THE FASHION SHOW
• Lorrayne ONE YEAR LATER (1966)
• Bonnie GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN … (1972)
• Beverly TRUCE (1971-1972)
• THE END
• 735 HOUSING UNITS AND 238.96 ACRES OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY FOR SALE
• Acknowledgments
• Sources
• Atria Paperbacks Reading Group Guide
• About the Author