DEAREST MARGUERITE: Letters from a Soldier To the Wife He Left Behind

November 1, 1943. The South Pacific.Lyle Young wrote to his dearest Marguerite: "We did not choose this war. We accept it and put every effort into it because without it we would lose the life that every man wants. The men know what they are fighting for They are fighting and toiling for the purposes they know are right. The purposes vary with each man, but they basically all add up to the right to live, worship, and work in peace. Each man has constant dreams of home, his loved ones, the neat little house, the neighbors and his church. He now realizes that those are the most important things in life and without them there is nothing. Through sweat and blood the vision of an honest world grows brighter." Letters were their only contact for the thirty months Lyle served in the Army Air Corps in World War II. Decades later, as Marguerite reread the letters, they rekindled vivid memories and made her realize what she held in her hands was history a personal history shared by many who lived through that difficult time. Dearest Marguerite is a poignant account of the sacrifice and patriotism experienced by countless soldiers and their families.