Updated 7/25/2016 - see below!
A part of the reason I do what I do is because of the people I meet. Thanks to so many of these people having multiple things in common, I am occasionally able to help make a really neat connection. The latest started back in 2012 with the help of a man who had been with the 1st and 2nd Battalion of Marines who cleared the Japanese off Tulagi so the allies could set up the hospital. Charles “Dan” Daniels was more help to me than I can say. His contact with me started from something totally unrelated to my research, but he turned out to be a pied piper of sorts. After we connected, he started reaching out to his other shipmates and posting ads in military publications that brought me many new people I never would have found on my own. I lost contact with him a couple of years ago, and I fear I lost him to time. But while I had him, he made many things possible.

One of those connections was Mr. Francis Rieber, a former USS HELENA CL-50 sailor who ended up on the USS STEPHEN POTTER DD 538 after HELENA was sunk the night after STRONG on July 6th, 1943. He had recollections of the night STRONG was sunk and shared his memories with me, as well as his experience surviving the sinking of Helena. Over the years we’ve remained in contact and he’s on my email list of folks to notify of any new developments. Meanwhile, in June of 2014 I was connected with Mr. Donald Fawcett F1c, a survivor of the USS STRONG DD 467 via Bill Gustavson, the son of Clarence Gustavson SM3c, another survivor who ended up working with Mr. Fawcett at a firm in California. Don and I emailed back and forth a couple of times and then he revealed to me that he too, had ended up on the STEPHEN POTTER after STRONG.

Many of the STRONG men other than Don ended up on the STEPHEN POTTER in October of 1943. After comparing the muster list of STEPHEN POTTER from WW2 with the crew list of STRONG, I find at least 43 of the survivors ended up on the DD 538. Fran also made friends with Carl Ochs and Rocky Britton from STRONG. She was a Fletcher-class, named after a Naval aviator from World War 1, Ensign Stephen Potter (1896-1918). Potter was shot down while being pursued by German fighters. The ship was laid down in October of 1942 in San Francisco and launched in April 1943. Her new crew boarded in October, went on shakedown and ended up in the South Pacific on December 31st, 1943. She participated in engagements during the final years of World War 2, was in service during the Korean War and worked up until 1958. She was struck from the Navy list in 1972.

In talking with Don Fawcett in 2014,  I told him I had been in contact with a HELENA survivor for a couple of years, and when I mentioned Mr. Rieber’s name, he said, “Bones?  You know Bones Rieber?” and was very excited. He had great memories of his friendship with Fran, especially since both of them had the shared experience of surviving the bombing of their ships. I gave him Fran’s contact information and the two of them began corresponding again.
​
A few nights ago I got a late phone call from Don. He was ecstatic, because he had recently met up with Fran in person again, the first time they had seen each other since 1945. It seems Mr. Fawcett and his family were on their way from Florida headed home to Wisconsin and stopped at a STEPHEN POTTER event in Nashville. After I got the call from Don, I emailed Fran and according to him Don’s nickname on the STEPHEN POTTER was “Spigot”.  So there in Nashville, Spigot and Bones had some time to reconnect, share memories and spend some time together that will probably not happen again.  On the STEPHEN POTTER, they both served in the forward engine room. In their civilian lives after discharge, both had careers in the utility business, working with electric companies working their way up the ladder and retiring on top. Both learned much from their experiences on the ships that they carried into civilian life, and beyond. To have been a part of this reunion warms my heart. I’m so glad to hear they were able to meet again, and thank both Spigot and Bones for sharing their information with me. You two are grand fellas!

​-Tammi

Francis "Bones" Rieber, 2007 photo from USS Helena CL-50 reunion.

Donald Fawcett, 2014 USS Strong DD 467 reunion in Groton, Connecticut.

Ronald L. Cohen, Sr., 78, died Monday, June 6, 2016 at the Hershey Medical Center. He was the husband of the late Elizabeth M. (Leiphart) Cohen. Ronald was born on November 9, 1937, in Greensburg, son of the late Edward and Sarah (Burns) Cohen. He retired in 1996 from Caterpillar, Inc. after 32 years of service. He was a U.S. Navy veteran. He was a member of the York Amateur Radio Club, Keystone VHF Club and the American Legion Post 799 Pleasureville. The service and burial will be private. Ronald is survived by a daughter, Laurie M. Gregonis, wife of John, of Spring Garden Twp: and a son, Ronald L. Cohen, Jr., husband of Nancy, of Black Creek, Wis.; two grandsons, Ronald L. Cohen III and Aaron M. Cohen, husband of Catherine "Cat"; a great-grandson, Aaron M. Cohen, Jr.; two brothers, Robert Cohen of York and Edward Cohen of Orlando, Fla. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Leatrice Waughaman and Lois Rouke; and a brother, Richard Cohen. 

Memorial contributions may be made to Hershey Medical Center, L-Vad Research, 500 University Dr., H-7047, Hershey PA 17003.

The John W. Keffer Funeral Homes and Crematory, Inc, 902 Mt. Rose Ave., is in charge.  KefferFH.com

                                                                                          Published in York Daily Record & York Dispatch onn June 9, 2016

May 18th update: Interview on WKRC in Cincinnati, interview audio link: http://www.55krc.com/onair/brian-thomas-5053/stephen-harding-castaways-war-14724965/

Due to the early success and high expectation of The Castaway's War by Stephen Harding, the interviews on radio, on web sites and book reviews are starting to come in!  Below are just a few of the recent links to these interviews. There will be more in the future when his publisher, Da Capo Press finally has the book tour schedule together. As a reminder to those of you who live within a few hours of Los Angeles, Steve will be doing a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Thousand Oaks on Saturday May 14th at 3:00 pm. This is the opportunity you have to meet him, hear him speak and learn of his work. There may be another surprise in store on that day, but I can't give any details as yet. 

May 13th update: Steve's son, actor Ian Harding of the popular television show "Pretty Little Liars" will be attending the book signing with him!!!  Ian is the voice of the audio version of The Castaway's War, and if copies of the audio book are available he will sign them. If you have a son or daughter in the demographic of this show who is a fan, this is their chance to meet Ian in addition to Steve. So make your plans for heading there on Saturday! I only wish I could be there.

First link, a book review by Thomas McClung of New York Journal of Books: ​http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/castaways

​A radio interview by Eric Marts of WDAY 970 AM, a podcast in two parts: ​http://www.wday.com/radio/4027505-970-wday-heroes-heartland-demand-stephen-harding-castaways-war

​Keep watching the page for further updates. I may post other previous links later.

Tammi

​     I read recently on the Project STRONG website, a note from Commander Welling’s daughter Anne, who said that in her recollection Harold (Captain Wellings) had told his family he was on a raft with one of his “firemen” and that the fireman carried him aboard the USS GWIN DD-433 as he was too exhausted to climb up.  That fireman was actually my father, Motor Machinist Mate 1st Class, Melvin H. DuBard, F2c of Jefferson, Mississippi.  Melvin had joined the Navy in the summer of 1938 after having served three years in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Mississippi.  He went aboard the USS PERRY DMS-17, in San Francisco (1939) and they escorted the USS ARIZONA B-39 to Pearl Harbor and were present during the attack on December 7, 1941.  The PERRY was credited with shooting down at least three Japanese aircraft and participated in the depth charging of a midget submarine in the harbor.  A few months later he had orders to Bath, Maine where he became an original member of the crew of USS STRONG DD-467.  
     Anne's version of the sinking of STRONG was the same story we were told as children.  We were also told that Dad had put an old Navy flashlight in his back pocket hours before they went down and that just prior to daylight another man on the net, Rodriguez, said “if I only had a flashlight I could signal that destroyer out there on the horizon”.  Dad reached back and, low and behold, there was the flashlight and it worked!  Rodriguez is also the one who identified the GWIN as being one of ours from her silhouette.  We also knew that Rodriquez later died of his wounds.  We knew that the paymaster (Keith Sherlie) and a sailor named Rock were there as well.
     Around ten years ago, my oldest brother took our parents to Baton Rouge for a STRONG reunion where they happened to meet Lt.  Keith Sherlie who was the paymaster aboard Strong in 1943.  They had attended several reunions but this was the first time the former shipmates had seen each other since the night they were sunk.  I spoke with Mr. Sherlie about two weeks later by telephone and he was gracious enough to allow me to record our nearly two hour conversation which I treasure.  I was finally able to hear another first- hand account of the events of that night in 1943 from a shipmate who was with my father during the ordeal.  He told of the ship breaking in half while he was on the stern where he had gone to check the depth charges.  Just prior to this he had run to the ship’s safe and rolled the pay records into a tube and placed them in a condom which he tied and put in his shirt pocket. This was according to standard practice at the time.  The crew was very happy to receive their pay (and back pay)  some weeks later.  All thanks to Lt. Sherlie!  As STRONG broke up he stepped off the starboard side into the ocean as the deck was awash with water up to his knees.
     It should be remembered that this mission was not a "walk in the park".  The Japanese had begun to use the area as a re-supply depot for Munda airfield which was only a few dozen miles from the landing area.  The entire land mass surrounding Kula Gulf was held by the Japs and enemy shipping came and went nearly at will.  Jap reinforcements were reported arriving regularly.  Two weeks prior to July 4, the ships of this squadron had made a similar run bombarding targets in the same area so the element of surprise was no longer an advantage.  The Japs were likely ready and eager to avenge their losses.
Like other Fletcher class destroyers, STRONGs 5"/38's, her main weapons, required a blast of high pressure air to clear the barrels of sparks and debris after each shot.  Pressurized air was also used in the loading mechanism of each gun to set the breach and firing pin.  Among Melvin's other battle station duties was the maintenance of the air compressors that performed this operation.                                                                                                                                   
      Just before the torpedo hit the port side of STRONG, Mel had been topside to check the high pressure air compressor on the port side.  He had gone down the port escape hatch into the after fireroom and was crossing the grate to the escape hatch on the starboard side, where he was heading to check the starboard compressor, when the ship was hit.  He immediately scrambled up the starboard escape hatch and fell into the ocean.  He always thought the ship broke in half immediately because he said when he got topside he immediately fell into the sea.  He had little recollection of the blast except that it knocked him to his knees and that the forward bulkhead in the after fireroom ruptured.  He was likely one of the first ones in the water.  Meanwhile, Mr. Sherlie said that the ship continued to steam ahead for about a hundred yards after being hit and she was still moving when she broke in half.  Mel swam after the ship and said he was always grateful that he was wearing a canvas life belt around his waist.  The sky was suddenly filled with Japanese flare illumination and Jap shore batteries zeroed in on the crippled STRONG hitting her twice by some reports.  Once the ship broke in half she quickly sank.  Both men were now in the water astern and off to starboard but they were still some distance from the ship’s last location when the depth charges detonated injuring both men but not as badly as others who were closer.  Both later received the Purple Heart.  Neither man knew that the USS CHEVALIER DD-451 had taken men off the port bow and had retired.  Sherlie related that he swam around for ten or fifteen minutes and then ran into Melvin who by then had a young sailor named Rock (Edward A. Rock) tagging along.  Mel said that if he got more than a few feet from Rock he’d start screaming so they stayed bunched up and quite close to one another. 
     During the night this became a factor as they could hear what they assumed to be Japanese small craft machine gunning survivors in the water.  Mr. Sherlie said that early on there were quite a lot of men clustered in the water and that the general cry was to swim ashore as the Marines were due to land in a few hours.  He said Mel argued strongly against that saying that they should tread water and try to stay near the oil slick or as close to their location as possible so that the Navy could find them in the morning as he felt certain they would do a search of the area.  Mr. Sherlie said he liked the sound of that and decided to stay with Melvin.  Sherlie explained that he was fresh out of Harvard and had only been in the Navy for six months or so and that he deferred to Mel because he was an “old salt” and that he seemed reasonable and calm.  So the large group, which, by now was broken up into smaller units, floated off into the night and Mel, Lt. Sherlie and Rock tried to remain in place.  According to Mr. Sherlie, there was a very strong current pushing them south towards Arundel Island and towards Blackett Strait and that they were swimming for all they were worth against it when they stopped for a rest.  Suddenly something bumped into them from up current and they happily discovered it was a floating cargo net and someone was on it.  Turns out it was 1st Class Signalman Maurice Rodriguez and Commander J.H. Wellings who was unconscious at the time.  Both were badly injured as they were together on the bridge when Strong went down and both bore the brunt of the depth charge explosions.  All of them were by now covered in thick fuel oil.  Rodriguez woke Commander Wellings and Lt. Sherlie asked permission to come aboard!  Mel and Rock stayed in the water while they conferred and Wellings agreed they should not go ashore but try to remain in the area.  Wellings was in a lot of pain and drifted in and out of consciousness all night.  Lt. Sherlie went back into the water and he, Rock, and Mel pulled the net against the current the remainder of the night taking short breaks to rest while hanging onto the net.  Prior to dawn, Cdr. Wellings, Rodriquez, and Rock were exhausted and/or unconscious and on the net. 
     By the first hint of daylight, Mr. Sherlie said he was exhausted and he, too, was lying on the net while Mel continued to swim and pull though little progress was being made.  Rodriguez woke up and was groaning in pain when he said he thought he saw something against the sky on the horizon which was beginning to lighten.  They woke Commander Wellings and asked his advice but Mr. Sherlie said they couldn’t really rouse him to conversation though they felt he was still in command.  Rodriguez determined by its silhouette that it was a U.S. Navy destroyer and wistfully said that he wished he had something with which to signal when Melvin reached in his back pocket and pulled out a steel USN flashlight.  It worked and Rodriquez signaled “strong survivors” whereupon the GWIN raced to them while firing and shouting to “put out that damned light”!  Mel’s memory of the actual rescue was that he carried Rodriguez up a cargo net and handed him off and then went down to get the skipper.  He didn’t remember how Rock got aboard.  Lt. Sherlie said that he and Mel struggled to get the skipper up “because he was a little on the portly side…not fat but a mature man” when Mel told him to go on up as it wasn't working for both of them to carry him.  Sherlie went up and Mel came right behind him with the Skipper over his left shoulder.  Mel said Wellings, who was awake now, was saying the whole time, “DuBard you are a damned horse”.  His recollection of the event was of dumping Cdr. Wellings over the side and following him over onto the deck, landing on him in a pile and he said that’s the last thing he remembered.  He woke up the next day in a field hospital he thought to be on Guadalcanal at Henderson Field.  Sherlie said they were taken to the hospital and the last time he saw Mel was when they landed and they separated the three enlisted men from the officers.  When Sherlie awoke the next day Wellings was sitting up in his hospital bed next to his and he boomed, “Sherlie it’s a fine day to be in this man’s Navy!”  Deck logs from the USS GWIN show that the five survivors were picked up at 5:06 a.m. and deposited on Guadalcanal (later that morning). GWIN had expended over 600 rounds of 5” ammo with the final shots fired at 6 am. Lt. Sherlie said that once on board the GWIN they were cleaned up and given sandwiches and coffee and assigned a bunk where the corpsman treated them as best he could.  Mel didn't remember any of that.
He did remember going home on survivors leave once he finally arrived stateside.  He was on a Pullman from San Diego and said he had been paid on in silver dollars.  Three months back pay had his trousers sagging all the way across the Pacific and right on to the train.  He was found in the men's room unconscious and hemorrhaging from both ends.  He survived that scare from his internal injuries and forever carried a large scar on his arm where he was burned on a steam pipe in the restroom where he was found.  Once home he finally met my mother with whom he had been corresponding by letter for nearly two years.  She had picked him in Sunday school as the serviceman she was going to write to after seeing his photograph while visiting her friend, Mel's sister.  He also discovered that the local newspapers had reported him missing in action for weeks.  His homecoming was a grand event in such a small community.
     I have in my possession a letter from (then) Captain Wellings while he was at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington to my father dated March 1946 in which he wrote, "...I suppose you are not bothering much about waterproof flashlights but no matter where each of us may be, I shall never forget your resourcefulness and strength that resulted in the five survivors of our good old ship being rescued by the GWIN and in my being able to reach the main deck over the cargo nets.  My everlasting thanks and best regards always."  Another letter from Wellings dated July 1953 invites Mel to visit him if he is ever near Newport, RI and congratulates him on his marriage and promotion to CPO.  Mel did visit (then) Admiral Wellings while he commanded the base at Newport and said that when he told the duty clerk who he was (having shown up invited but unannounced) that Wellings must have heard him because he shouted to “clear the decks” and brought him right in and visited for more than an hour.  It is gratifying to know that his former skipper thought enough of him to correspond and to maintain contact and I'm equally thankful that my mother kept the letters.
     When Melvin was a child, he learned to plow the cotton fields of Mississippi using a mule named Bill.  The children learned to plow behind that particular mule because he was very slow and gentle.  He always said Bill could plow all day long by slowly putting one foot in front of the other.  With no variation, slow and steady, Bill would go all day.  That is until the bell for supper could be heard and then he was quick as lightning, cutting diagonally across the fresh plowed field dragging the plow and Melvin, crying and screaming, all the way to the barn.  So Mel always said that the memory of Bill saved his life because he thought of Bill all night and stayed steady and slow taking it one stroke at a time.  That was a major part of the story we heard as children.  Thank God for Bill.
     I must say that I quite admire our Admiral Wellings and I know he meant a lot to my father as he always spoke very highly of him and his service while aboard the STRONG.  He described him as very strong but fair.  Maurice Rodriquez also earns the highest praise as he stayed with his commander until they were the very last to abandon ship.  That decision cost him his life but it ultimately helped save the lives of all the others who were rescued by the GWIN  What courage! It is also certain that without the actions of Lt. Sherlie and, yes, even the frightened Rock that they might have never been found.  GWIN was, after all, on her last sweep of the area.   Melvin retired as a Chief Petty Officer a few months prior to my birth in 1960 and passed away at age 89 in 2006.  We miss him every day.  He was our hero.
 
David DuBard
March 24, 2016
Oxford, Mississippi

The grandson of James Lewis Long, a fireman 2nd class on Strong has shared this taped interview with his grandfather from 2014. Taped by researchers from the University of Central Florida, the video is Mr. Long detailing how he became an underage seaman at age 16, his time as a plank owner on Strong and his experiences during and after the sinking of the ship. 

As difficult as it is for these men to talk about their experiences, the fact that they do means we can all better understand what they went through. He has not been to any reunions, but I would really love to change his mind and encourage him to come see us in Charleston. We would so love to meet him.

Here is the link to his 42 minute interview taped in June of 2014: http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/306/

​-Tammi

Added 3/30/2016: A link to the story of Vasco da Gama's ship by WLRN Miami/South Florida: Vasco da Gama Shipwreck

I always look forward to meeting new Strong family members. Just yesterday I got a wonderful note on my Strong Facebook page from James "Jim" Oberg, nephew to Lt. Albert E. Oberg from Strong. Al was with Hugh Barr Miller's group on the net and made it as far as one of the outlier islands next to Arundel before succumbing to his injuries. In corresponding with Jim, he shared the link to an essay he wrote about Al back in 2010. I think it is imperative to share this type of information with others, as it keeps these young men alive in our minds and hearts. The essay is linked to Facebook, but I hope those of you who are not on the social media site can also access it. It's long and that's why I'm only posting the link here. If you cannot get it, let me know and I will be happy to copy and paste it into an email to you. 

​Link to James Oberg essay, click here.

I have known that David and his company Blue Water Recoveries LTD was working in Oman for years. He is very discreet and never discusses his other work, so to have this announcement come out today is just amazing and further proof of his abilities to locate historic and valuable shipwrecks. To check out the web site with more videos, the archaeological reports, the official paper on the history of the ship and Vasco de Gama's involvement with the fleet, click on Esmeralda.

Plan on spending some time here. It's a beautifully done web site with lots to learn about the history of Portuguese exploration in the New World and beyond. Below is just one of the videos available. They can also be found on YouTube by clicking here on Esmeralda Shipwreck.

Enjoy everybody!

Tammi

P.S. Link to story on CBS Morning News 3/16/2016: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/portuguese-ship-esmeralada-shipwreck-coin-artifacts-vasco-da-gama/

Stephen Harding was asked recently to contribute articles for "The Daily Beast", a military based web site. The first of these articles is titled "The Dishonorable Dead", and can be found at this link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/12/were-these-u-s-soldiers-executed-because-of-their-race.html

Future links and updates on newer articles will continue to be posted on the web site. 

​-Tammi

​     I was looking for a Christmas stocking stuffer for my husband in a local bookstore, Morris Book Shop here in Lexington, something different and interesting. We both like history books so the bonus was that once he got through with it, I got a crack at it.  I didn’t realize at the time just how cool and relevant my selection would be. While perusing the shelves, my eyes fell on a book titled “When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II”, by Molly Guptill Manning, an attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, New York City. Bingo! I get a WW2 story and it’s about books, one of my favorite things. After reading this book and learning how the stories of this time period helped keep many of these men sane, I was more than impressed and happy to have found this book.
     Until I bought this book for my husband, I had never given much thought to what the diversions must be for men or women at war. When they were so far away from home in war zones in the South Pacific or European theater, what did they do in their down time that helped them pass the time and stay sane? They had radio, but when they had people like Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally “entertaining” them with hurtful propaganda, that did more harm than good. There were movies available from time to time, and USO shows with amazing folks like Bob Hope and actress Ann Sheriden. But during the times when radio wasn’t enough and the entertainers and movies weren’t available, these men and women came to rely on books and other forms of the written word, such as magazines and periodicals to take them away from their situations.
In the late 1930s Hitler was burning books in Germany, getting rid of anything that promoted individual ideals and thought, anything considered “anti-German”. Many prominent authors were banned and their works destroyed in an effort to rid Germany of any form of Jewish or other influence considered anti-German in literature or art.
     The banned authors included people like Ernest Hemmingway, H.G. Wells, Helen Keller, Albert Einstein, Upton Sinclair, Sigmund Freud, Voltaire and so many more. Manning’s book has a list in Appendix A on page 200 of all the banned authors. It’s believed that Hitler succeeded in banning and burning over 100 million books, new or old, antique or modern texts, all were lost. During an event known as “Kristallnacht” (night of the broken glass), eleven synagogues were burned and copies of Jewish text and Torah copies destroyed. These actions began the attempted annihilation of people of Jewish heritage and their history in November of 1938. Culture and art soon followed.
     In the meantime, efforts were being made in America to counter Hitler’s destruction of knowledge and independent thought. Our citizen soldiers in the armed forces had long bouts of loneliness and boredom while serving, so efforts began at home to collect books to send overseas with the intention to both entertain the troops with literary diversions and to purposely get some of Hitler’s known banned books into circulation in the war zone. Nationally, librarians were in charge of taking in donations to be sent to a distribution center that made sure books were shipped to men serving in the Pacific and European theaters. While these efforts were imminently successful and the books much appreciated, there were issues with the size of the books, ease of carrying hard backs or big books in packs meant to stay as lean as possible so there was room for items necessary for living and traveling in a war zone, in particular the infantry with a “field uniform of steel helmet, shirt, trousers, leggings, shoes, underwear, and depending on the weather, raincoat or coat and overcoat…; a haversack, for his mess kit; cup and canteen; first-aid kit; pack holding blanket, shelter tents, poles, pins, toilet articles, gas mask; intrenching tool, reserve ration; weapon and ammunition”.
​     After a time, a solution was reached whereupon the books were being produced in pocket sized paperback versions, easy to carry literally in a back pocket and portable enough to fit well in a rucksack with other clothing and equipment.
In the first book drives by the Victory Book Campaign, books were collected and distributed by voluntary organizations. When the opportunity came to produce and then purchase the smaller paperback books, an organization called the Council on Books in Wartime formed by a group of publishers and supported by the military came to be, with their slogan “Books are weapons in the war of ideas”. This group saw that the military purchased thousands of copies of current books and many classics to be distributed to the troops. They chose fiction and non-fiction titles on every subject the men would be interested such as religion, history, science, philosophy, Shakespeare, murder mysteries, biographies, sports, love stories, hunting and wildlife – every topic to fit every man. These books were known to the men as Armed Services Editions, ASE’s, 3” x 4” approximately, extremely portable and easy to carry. They were constructed to make it through about 6 readings, as the men would read them and frequently trade them around for other books they hadn’t yet read. From Manning’s book, one Special Services Officer says of the ASE’s that they, “provided sorely needed distraction to a great many men”. Another infantryman is quoted as saying, “These little books are a great thing. They take you away”.  One of the favorite editions was “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith. She got many letters from men overseas who found solace and entertainment in her book. One young sergeant wrote to her saying, “When I first picked up your book, I was down in the dumps, a sad sack, as the boys say…..my spirits rose until at the end I found myself chuckling over many of the amusing characters”.
     And this was the purpose of these precious little books. To take them away for a little space of time to a place of fantasy, of places they wished to be, to historical sites they may one day visit – taking them to the places they loved and reminding them of the freedoms they were fighting for – freedom of speech, freedom of individual thought, of religion and of free flowing ideas.
     The back of the book Appendix B on page 202 begins a complete listing of these ASE’s that were made available to the men in both theaters of war. I have found a few of these editions on eBay and have plans to pick up a couple just to have a piece of this history. They were printed in series editions beginning with ‘A’ in September of 1943 through to ‘Z’, then in ‘AA’ through to ‘TT’ series ending in 1947. This blog barely scratches the surface of the heartfelt and often disturbing story of the destruction of these precious books and an entire cultural group. Manning’s book is paperback and was on the New York Times bestseller list. I highly recommend it for the historic perspective, and just because you appreciate the value of books and the knowledge and escapes they provide.

I’ve provided a web link to The New Antiquarian story about the book and the ASE’s: http://www.abaa.org/blog/post/armed-services-editions
​
-Tammi