WITH LOVE, AND MARRIAGE, WHEREVER YOU ARE

FRANK and HELEN after their whirlwind marriage in Chicago. I believe this is from the Blackhawk in Chicago, but this is one of the few photos they didn’t label on the back. It’s definitely from their honeymoon. I’d love to know if this is how you pictured them as you read.

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WITH LOVE … FROM THE PALMER HOUSE

Finished? Still reading? Wondering what I’m talking about? In With Love, Wherever You Are, The Palmer House plays a role, as it did in the real lives of Helen and Frank. Will you let me know that you know why I’m posting a postcard of this hotel? A few years ago my husband I stayed there, and it’s as lovely as it was in WW2, when this postcard came out.

WITH LOVE, WHEREVER THEY MET…

If you’re reading WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE, you are already familiar with Battle Creek, MI. And if you were paying attention, you know quite a bit about things that happened in this hospital. Anyone know these answers??

I’m planning to post a bunch of pictures, postcards, memorabilia from WW2 over the next few weeks. Many of the items or locations are mentioned in the book. Other things are letters, etc. that didn’t make it into the book. I hope some of you will “play” along with me–not just answering the questions, but asking some of your own, or commenting, or telling me some of the vast information I don’t know!

WAR WEDDING

If you’ve read this far in WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE, I’ll bet you know exactly what this is. Clues: 1) It’s nearly 75 years old and still intact. 2) The cake it topped is long gone. 3) That lovely white dress really should have been another Army uniform. 3) Check out that flag–only 48 stars.  So, have you read this far?

BOOK RELEASE DAY!

It’s here! And as if that weren’t enough for me, it’s getting two starred reviews–Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist. I’ve waited so long for this. I thought about dozens of pictures I could post, along with witty, but poignant things to say. But here I am, speechless and grateful, hoping that you like my story.

Check out giveaways at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38952.Dandi_Daley_Mackall  If you’re on GoodReads, will you add the book to your favorite lists and to your shelf as to-read? Thanks!

WHAT’S IN A LETTER?

With Love, Wherever You Are

These are only a few of the WW2 letters I inherited from my parents, Army doctor and Army nurse, newlyweds shipped to different countries for the duration of the war. They wrote each other 2-3 times a day and prayed for mail call and the (too often unreliable) delivery of their most precious, vital, real connection–their letters. It was all they had to help their marriage survive. They wrote on whatever was at hand–V-mail (infuriatingly short), bummed stationery, and even abandoned German paper, though only when necessary. One letter was written on a small, brown paper sack. They had worked out a clever code to foil the censors and to arrange rare rendezvous. (Took me a while, but I cracked their code.)

I fear we’re losing our letters to texts and emails. I admit that I rarely write letters, though I’m delighted whenever I receive one. Think of all the great historical and literary collections that wouldn’t exist if their writers had I phones. I can’t even imagine writing WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE without my trunkful of letters. Tomorrow is the official release date for the book!

I’ll be answering questions on Goodreads all week. Please join me there, okay?  Here’s the link: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38952.Dandi_Daley_Mackall

http://www.dandibooks.com/with-love-wherever-you-are/

 

IT’S MARCH! In 6 days…

WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE officially releases and should be in book stores on March 7. After so many years dreaming about this book, it’s still hard to believe it’s real. God is just so good. I thought these pictures may help you envision some of the moments in the novel. Helen in Rennes, Frank in Marseilles, then on a battle field in Germany. Frank is on the castle in Heidelberg, Germany. Helen is on her way to meet Frank.

If you’ve been reading these blogs, thanks so much for your interest. I would LOVE to hear from anyone who’s reading WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE!

http://www.dandibooks.com/with-love-wherever-you-are/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38952.Dandi_Daley_Mackall

WARTIME COOKIE JAR

This Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar sat on top of our refrigerator for as long as I can remember–longer, in fact, before I was born. I loved it, but only because every now and then, it would fill with wonderful cookies. It was a landmark day when I was able to reach it and pull out my own cookie, instead of standing on a chair to get one. But the old jar became much more than a cookie holder when I read one of Dad’s war/love letters to Mom: “Darling, you’ll never believe what the guys got us for our wedding gift.”

You guessed it. Dad’s war buddies bought Little Red Riding Hood. The gift meant so much to Dad that he carried it on his lap when he took the train to meet his bride-to-be on their wedding day. And they took it on their honeymoon. The cookie jar, minus cookies, has moved from the top of our fridge to the top of our war cabinet. Wouldn’t it be great if we all asked for the stories that go with family heirlooms? And we can pass along those stories to the next generation…and the next…and the next….

http://www.dandibooks.com/with-love-wherever-you-are/

 

ARMY NURSES

These are the nurses Mom (Helen) came to know and rely on–well, most of them. Can you pick out Lt. Helen Eberhart Daley? She’s front and center and seems to give off her own light. Next to her (on her left, our right) is her best war buddy, Naomi. Although I never met her, I feel as if I know Naomi. So many of Helen’s letters and war stories included her kind friend. If you read WITH LOVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE, I think you’ll come to know her a bit too.

http://www.dandibooks.com/with-love-wherever-you-are/

LARTZ, the Army Artist

Through letters and stories, I came to admire the doctor/soldier named Lartz. I believe he was Frank’s best war buddy, his quiet and uncompromising friend, even in the midst of some pretty crazy colleagues. These two sketches hung in my dad’s den as long as I can remember. I don’t think I ever asked where they came from because they were permanent fixtures, like wallpaper. I learned more about the pictures from the letters left in their Army trunk. In one letter, written shortly after arriving in England, Frank mentioned that Lartz was working on a charcoal drawing of Helen, working from a photograph. In a later letter, Frank complains (in good humor) that Lartz made him sit for over an hour to do a charcoal drawing of Soldier Frank.

Does anybody else have old photos or pictures around, things you wish you knew more about? People you suspect are in your ancestry, but you don’t know who they could be? I think we should all write dates and info on the back of every photo we take.