Cannon Fodder: From Basic to Purple Heart, Letters to Home

This collection reflects the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of a young, upper-middle class youth plunged into a radically different lifestyle. He writes, with a remarkable gift for words, about his fellow soldiers, the officers and sergeants -- both good and bad, his loneliness, and observations of the people and places where he found himself. -His businessman father's attitude toward President Roosevelt is reflected in his comments.Sent to a Replacement Depot in Naples, Italy, he is finally assigned to the 45th and sees action in France. There he receives his 'Million Dollar Wound' and is returned to the Replacement Depot. The final months of the war, and until his return to New Jersey in December 1945, he is assigned to a medical unit in Caserta, Italy.Letters from home -- his family and his girl -- are precious. They are his lifeline to home. A 'Dear John' letter is devastating.James E. Hildebrand is the author of 'Cannon Fodder: From Basic to Purple Heart, Letters to Home', published 1999 under ISBN 9781881325352 and ISBN 1881325350.