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World War II was coming to a close in Europe and Richard Haney was only four years old when the telegram arrived at his family's home in Janesville, Wisconsin. That moment, when Haney learned of his father's death in the final months of fighting, changed his and his mother's lives forever.
In this emotionally powerful book, Haney, now a professional historian, explores the impact of war on an American family. Unlike many of America's 183,000 World War II orphans, Richard Haney has vivid memories of his father. He skillfully weaves together those memories with his parents' wartime letters and his mother's recollections to create a unique blend of history and memoir. Through his father's letters he reveals the war's effect on a man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge with the 17th Airborne but wanted nothing more than to return home, a man who expressed the feelings of thousands when he wrote to his wife, "I've seen and been through a lot but want to forget it all as soon as I can." Haney illuminates life on the home front in small-town America as well, describing how profoundly the war changed such communities. At the same time, his memories of an idyllic family life make clear what soldiers like Clyde Haney felt they were defending.
With "When Is Daddy Coming Home?", Richard Haney makes an exceptional contribution to the literature on the Greatest Generation - one that is both devastatingly personal and representative of what families all over America endured during that testing time. No one who reads this powerful story will come away unmoved.
| Preface | ix | |
| 1 | Sparks at the Fuse Box | 1 |
| 2 | God Bless America: A Family and Community Go to War | 9 |
| 3 | "Well, Darlin', I'm in the Army Now!" Training Camp | 25 |
| 4 | "Tell Butch I'm Coming Home" The Army Calls It a "Delay-en-Route" | 35 |
| 5 | "All My Love Always, Clyde, England, 12-25-1944" Airborne Training | 41 |
| 6 | "Maybe Daddy Will Be Home on Monday" Keeping the Home Fires Burning | 53 |
| 7 | "I'm Still OK-Somewhere in Belgium" The Battle of the Bulge | 67 |
| 8 | "Airborne Mission Soon" Crossing the Rhine | 79 |
| Epilogue: A Wound You Can Never Heal | 89 | |
| Appendix | Selected Letters | 103 |
| Notes | 121 | |
| Index | 133 |
Anonymous
Posted February 28, 2005
This is a very moving book. The author invites us into his family and does an excellent job of putting a face on a tragic war story.
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Overview
World War II was coming to a close in Europe and Richard Haney was only four years old when the telegram arrived at his family's home in Janesville, Wisconsin. That moment, when Haney learned of his father's death in the final months of fighting, changed his and his mother's lives forever.
In this emotionally powerful book, Haney, now a professional historian, explores the impact of war on an American family. Unlike many of America's 183,000 World War II orphans, Richard Haney ...