On March 19, 1942 my husband’s aunt boarded a train headed from Buffalo to Washington, D.C. She was twenty-one years old, and was driven by an overwhelming desire to help win the war. As it was in those days, her father had decided that sending her to college would have been a waste of money since she would undoubtedly marry. He did, however, subsidize secretarial classes to help her find a job until she could find a man to provide for her. How very wrong he was. Her career ended up spanning over 36 years and her service included secretary in the War Department at the Pentagon from 1942 to 1945; civilian duty in Japan during the U.S. Occupation; assignment in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff during the Korean War; secretary to the U.S. Representative, NATO Military Committee and Standing Group; secretary to the Air Deputy, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe; and secretary to two Administrators of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She was the family’s “matron aunt” and upon her death in 1998 my mother-in-law bequeathed her diaries to me dating from 1942 to 1945: her Cherry Blossom years. This novel is based on her entries during those days. Names have been changed and some circumstances have been slightly altered, but the story is true. These people lived and loved and sacrificed. I believed their story is one that should be shared.
