Battleship Letters: The Biography of Carson Haefer U.S.S. New Mexico Marine Detachment WWII: A Man Tempered by Fire

"Far too often society and history overlook the tremendous ordeal of the World War II veteran. Their lives have been idealized through Hollywood and the media giving the general public a distorted view of their experiences. Yet reality was much different.

Carson Haefer was one of those men and his unvarnished story is told in startling clarity in Battleship Letters. Compiled from period letters detailed historical research and personal stories told to Carson’s son Roger this remarkable account drives headfirst into the reality of being a soldier during war. Roger captures the ups and downs of his father’s life from Marine boot camp sea school and assignment on the battleship USS New Mexico to kamikaze attacks at Luzon and Okinawa the impact of post-traumatic stress at the war’s end and problems encountered in a post-war romance.

With eye-opening precision Dr. Haefer shares how his father a naïve farm boy turned into a cynical and tormented survivor. Battleship Letters reveals the truth of war in all its gruesome reality and its devastating effect on those who fight it. Yet James 1:3 is proven accurate when perseverance emerges from the testing. Carson becomes an example of mind shattering crisis strengthening a man just as iron is tempered into steel by being heated in fire and pounded on an anvil. For all those who enter into the deeper circles of hell on earth there is hope that faith and character will be greater not in spite but because of it."