A Sale–WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE

Since my publisher, Tyndale House, selected WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE as their August promotional, I’ve been posting about this novel, the story of my parents, who served overseas in WW2 as Army Dr. and Army nurse. They met in training, fell in love, and married after a couple of weeks. For the remainder of the war, with Mom in England, then France and Dad ending up in a mobile unit pushing into Germany, they wrote each other 2-3 times a day. Those letters (over 600 of them preserved in an Army trunk, unknown to me), along with their stories, formed the basis for my novel. Tomorrow is the last day of the promo, the last chance to get the e-book of WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE, for $2.99. Sept. 1, the price goes back to $9.99.

Thanks for reminiscing with me!

 

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A Sale: WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE

Tyndale House, my publisher, has selected my novel, WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE, for their August promotional, which I think is pretty cool. That means if you’re into e-books, starting today you pay $2.99 instead of $9.99 for an electronic version (if you get it before Sept.1). Plus, it gives me an excuse to post and re-post some of the WW2 pictures of my parents, (seen above on the book cover), Dr. Frank Daley and Nurse Helen Eberhart Daley, who served in the Army during the war. They met in training, fell in love, married, and were shipped to different countries, with only their letters to keep them together. So they wrote 2-3 times a day, and many of their detailed letters are part of the book. Helen worked in France in a bombed-out factory/makeshift hospital, where she cared for Allied soldiers, concentration camp survivors, and German prisoners of war. Frank worked in Alsace-Lorraine, then joined a mobile unit (MASH unit) that pressed into Germany. He performed surgeries he hadn’t trained for on soldiers carried from the battlefield to small tents with mud floors, like the ones pictured on the book cover.   (Sale works at any bookstore or outlet, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc., and at Tyndale’s ebookdeals.net.)

 

WITH LOVE, IN FRANK’S UNIT

Toward the end of the war–and the end of the book, Helen pushed her way onto a bullet-ridden service airplane with 13 French soldiers. Everyone was waiting for the Germans to surrender. And then soldier-doctors and many soldier-nurses would board ships to the Pacific to continue to fight until the Japanese surrendered. Helen determined to see her husband before that happened. Frank had been moved to an outpost in Entzheim, France, and the couple arranged the miracle rendezvous at the eleventh hour through code letters. She spent several days there, even accompanying him on a rebuilt motorcycle to do patient rounds in villages. From later letters, I learned that Helen was quite a hit with Frank’s buddies.

WITH LOVE, IN MARSEILLES

During their service in WW2, Lt. Helen Daley and Lt./Capt. Frank R. Daley miraculously arranged a few short rendezvouses. This one is in the book–Marseilles, France, in Southern France, on the Mediterranean. On the back of the photo, Mom (Helen) has written: “Marseilles. We climbed all of the church’s steps this day!” It would be great to have a clearer photo of the view of the city, the seascape, and landscape. But it’s pretty clear to me that Helen and Frank only had eyes for each other.

WITH LOVE, for Grandfather “Pete”

Although I was barely 3 when my Grandfather Daley died, I remember him. I’m sure stories have blended with memory so that I can’t separate them, but I don’t want to. I called him “Pete,” not “Grandfather” or any variation thereof. I sensed his kindness and good humor. One story of where my “Dandi” name came from says that when I was born, Pete declared, “She’s a dandy!” I can still see him leaving our house and heading for his car, with me running after him, begging to come along. This photo from 1942 is labeled Camp Robinson. The Arkansas camp trained soldiers and housed German prisoners during WW2. And from 1942-1944, a Medical Training Replacement Center was located there to train soldiers as medical personnel. 13,500 trainees passed through in 8-week training cycles. The time was shortened if medics were needed more quickly. Pete is briefly mentioned in a couple of anecdotes in WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE. Like many of the characters in the novel, Pete deserves his own book.

FRANK’S PATIENTS

Captain Frank R. Daley was sent from a wartime makeshift hospital in Alsace-Lorraine to a battlefield battalion aid station inside wartime Germany . . . probably because he refused to cut his hair (Helen loved those thick curls.) and, to add insult to injury, then said to his bald commanding officer, “So it’s true then.” “What?” demanded the officer. Frank shook his head and replied, “Misery really does love company.” Frank didn’t get the haircut, but he did get a freight train to the battlefield. He joined a British unit and performed surgeries in tents with mud floors. Toward the end of the war, he was able to doctor civilians, as well as soldiers. This is a photo of just a few of those patients.

WHOEVER YOU ARE, WITH LOVE

Not far from Paris, the seaside village of Deauville has long been considered the “Queen of the Norman Beaches.” During WW2, the German army occupied Deauville and Normandy. German forces took over villas, hotels, and even the casino until D-Day, when the Allies forced the German troops out of Normandy and Deauville. My mom, Lt. Helen Eberhart is standing next to a woman I don’t recognize, but who, on the back of the photo is called “Susan.” Nurse Helen worked with many nurses not mentioned in WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE, women who cared for their patients in such difficult circumstances. When I look at this picture, taken in 1944, I hope these two brave women are on a break, enjoying a walk by the sea. I’m sure they deserve it.

 

SALE: WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE– $2.99 for 2 weeks, the e-book everywhere

This is the day I’ve been building up to in these posts. Thanks for sticking with me this far. For the 2 weeks of the sale, I’ll be posting more war photos and hoping you’re not tired of me. . . or of my parents’ story.

ARMY BUDDIES IN WW2

If you’ve read WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE, you already know that Dr. Frank Daley, here a captain in the Army during WW2, had a number of war buddies. These soldiers were also medical doctors, treating patients suffering from trench foot, burns, bullet wounds, shell shock, rare diseases, and every kind of injury. Frank is the one on the left. The soldier in the middle is Lartz, Frank’s best buddy. Although I have a couple of guesses as to the identity of the third man, no one labeled this picture, so I’m in the dark. My guess as to location would be Alsace-Lorraine or Germany. My hope is that the tanks are Allied.

WITH LOVE…LETTERS & PHOTOS

Young Helen and Frank met in basic Army training during WW2. They only knew each other for a few weeks before getting married and then being shipped overseas to the front lines–to different fronts, different countries. For months at a time, all they had to keep their marriage together were 3 things: Love letters (They wrote 2-3 times a day, every day.); prayers; and photos, like the ones you see in the background beside Helen’s bunk. Helen’s bracelet was a gift from Frank. In one of his letters, he mentions that one of the German prisoners was making bracelets out of foreign coins for men to send home to their wives. Frank collected coins from every city where he and his wife pulled off a rendezvous. And now, I have that bracelet.