
Dearest Mama
The Lost Letters of a Fallen Soldier and the Stories of Those He Left Behind
- 176 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
Dearest Mama
The Lost Letters of a Fallen Soldier and the Stories of Those He Left Behind
About this book
A cache of letters leads to a journey of discovery that reveals the long and lasting consequences of war
William S. Walker never knew his uncle, Fletcher "Bud" Blanton. Blanton had been killed fighting in Europe during World War II before Walker was born. Walker had heard stories about Bud, but for most of his life his uncle had existed only as a faded memory. That path changed when Walker opened a dusty cabinet forgotten in his garage attic and found a paper sack and a note in his father's handwriting that read, "Go through before you throw away." The bag was filled with family photos, correspondence, and a collection of letters and postcards that his uncle Bud had written to his family during his time on the frontline as a US Army infantryman in Europe. The first letter he pulled from the bag opened with the line, "Dearest Mama." Walker's Dearest Mama is Bud Blanton's story. More than that it is a deeply personal family chronicle that resonates for all those left behind when servicemembers do not return home from combat.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- DEAREST MAMA
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- CONTENTS
- List of Illustrations
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 A Sister Remembers
- Chapter 2 From the Farm to the Front Line
- Chapter 3 The First Year Without Him
- Chapter 4 Coming Home
- Chapter 5 Those He Left Behind
- Chapter 6 Bud Blanton’s Friends Who Also Never Came Home
- Chapter 7 Peter Batty and the American Military Cemetery at Margraten
- Chapter 8 Finding Peter Batty
- Chapter 9 The Timberwolves
- Chapter 10 Two Medal of Honor Recipients, Two Different Stories
- Chapter 11 James Gibson and the House on Averette Street
- Chapter 12 The Names on a Flag
- Epilogue: Rest Easy, Men
- Acknowledgments
- Appendix A: The Letters
- Appendix B: How They Signed the Flag
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index