Letters from the CBI

"While serving as an orderly in a Civil War army hospital, Walt Whitman discovered what he called the 'real war.' This was the war experience by ordinary soldiers, whose struggles, conditions, and heroic actions constituted what he regarded as the 'interior history' of the war, which, he predicted, would 'never get into the books.' Until recently, that has been true, as was so for virtually all wars, thereby leaving us with little understanding of the most personal dimensions of warfare. Fortunately, Robert Forster's very well-crafted book, featuring his father's letters sent home to small town Wisconsin from World War II Burma, takes us down into the details of the GIs' 'real war.' It's a fascinating read that responds to Whitman's lament by fully humanizing, with admiration and affection, that war experienced by the boys who fought the good fight for us all."-Kerry A. Trask, author of Fire Within: A Civil War Narrative from Wisconsin and Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America

"This moving, richly detailed, and well-written book explores the powerful sense of linkage between generations of families-that amazing sense of someone long gone who still comes to life in your mind and heart and is with you decades later, hugging or holding you. You can feel it.

"More than seventy years after WWII, the author read hundreds of letters his father sent . . . during the war. [Forster] reflects on the war world his father lived in versus the one he wished he was in. He comes to realize that reflection is the key to understanding many things in life; you can philosophize about things and put them in perspective, even though it's sometimes painful. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are struggling to understand and make sense of something important in your life happening now or in the past. It's a must-read." -Bruce K. Berger, PhD, author of Brothers Bound

"Hauntingly nostalgic. The lost art of letters sets a stage of history, romance, and longing, not just for home and true love but for clarity as well. A must-read for anyone with questions of the same." -Nathan Aguinaga, master sergeant, US Army (Retired), and six-book author at Koehler Books