Teaser/spoiler! Here are some of the cool documents and keepsakes my parents kept from 1944. These scans will be part of Volume 2 of their journal “More Than Anything In The World” which should be available soon on Amazon, B&N and for Kindle and Nook shortly thereafter. The journal/memoir is being self-published by yours truly via amazon.com’s “createspace” self-publishing module. Volume 2 will consist of letters written by my parents during 1944 and the beginning of 1945.
Volume 1 is already available on amazon.com, B&N and for Kindle and Nook if you haven’t read it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=more+than+anything+in+the+world+k.s.+mueller
Where Volume 1 was romantic and heart-rending, Volume 2 deals more with WWII and some very cool stuff happens such as my parents getting the chance to live together in San Antonio, Texas after many months of separation. Unbeknownst to them at the time, my dad would be deployed to Europe at the very end of 1944, so those months in San Antonio turned out to be precious time spent together which would be followed by over a year of separation.
My father was fortunate to not be in a combat position; he worked in an intelligence outfit instead and was a stenographer and typist. The outfit moves through England, France, Belgium, and finally Germany, where they ended up staying for several months after the war ended. In fact, they were the only outfit to have that assignment in Germany, much to my parents’ disappointment — everyone else got to go home, except for the 15th Army.
On the way to France from England, the ship carrying the men was torpedoed, and sank. Everyone on the ship survived except for a couple of men. I have had the fantastic experience of “meeting” one of my father’s comrades (now 89 years old) who was one of the very last soldiers to jump ship as the hull disappeared beneath the waters of the English Channel. This guy searched for my dad for nearly 70 years, and finally “found him” (me) thanks to the internet. We’ve struck up a great pen-pal relationship and have enjoyed getting to know each other and reminiscing about my dad and other things. How cool is that? We have not talked by phone because he lost over 60% of his hearing when the ship was torpedoed and has a very hard time talking on the phone. Which is all right with me, because I am “so not a phone person”. It works out great for both of us!
I am beyond grateful to my mother for never throwing anything away! Here are some scans of some treasured memorabilia from 1944 that will be viewable in Volume 2 of MTAITW:
