Book Review: World War II Legacies Stories of Northeast Indiana Veterans

World War II Legacies Stories of Northeast Indiana Veterans by Kayleen Reusser

Recently, we were contacted by author and fellow WordPress blogger Kayleen Reusser, who asked if we could exchange book reviews with her book World War II Legacies Stories of Northeast Indiana Veterans and our book Warpath Across the Pacific. Look for her review of our book soon.

After Reusser began interviewing World War II veterans for a weekly newspaper column, she became very interested in hearing these accounts and decided to compile the stories of 28 veterans of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Corps, WAAC, and WASP into a book.

Each veteran interviewed by Reusser has two pages: one page consists of the veteran’s memories from World War II and the other page has photos of the veteran, typically a World War II service photo and another one of the same person taken during these interviews. Reusser took care to make sure that various theaters and military branches were represented in her book, which gives the reader a taste of the experiences these veterans had while serving in Europe, the Pacific, Africa, and Stateside.

This book can serve as a good starting point for readers looking to dive into the subject of World War II history. We were glad to see additional information about the lesser known women’s roles in the military, particularly the context given for the WASP. There are plenty of exciting stories, including one about a B-29 mission going awry and the crew needing to bail out mere seconds before the plane exploded. On the other side of the world, veterans recalled their experiences fighting in the bitter cold during the Battle of the Bulge.

While the anecdotes are engaging and well written, they are not transcripts from the interviews. Each one has been fleshed out with additional background information to give the reader a clearer picture of what was happening in each veteran’s life. Accessible and easy to understand, this book is great for anyone with very little background on the events of the war as well as those who are already familiar with the subject. We enjoyed getting to read about some of the World War II veterans from Indiana.

Purchase your copy of World War II Legacies Stories of Northeast Indiana Veterans on her site or on Amazon.