
No Ordinary Soldier
My Father's Two Wars
by Liz Gilmore Williams
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Pub Date Dec 01 2016 | Archive Date Jun 21 2019
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Description
A young man from a gritty Pennsylvania mill town enlists in the Army Air Corps and heads for Hawaii, the “Paradise of the Pacific.” There, he and his buddies defend Oahu while it explodes and burns in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As the war surges, his bomber squadron ships out to primitive Pacific outposts. Amid air raids, stifling heat, and outbreaks of tropical disease, he clings to sanity through the letters he and his wife share, letters found years later saved in an attic. Haunted by his terrifying rages decades after his death, his daughter delves into the letters for clues to his turmoil. The letters lead her to discover a shocking family secret, not only fulfilling her quest but also revealing a story of war, love, and forgiveness.
Advance Praise
2018 International Book Awards Finalist, Military History
2018 International Book Awards Finalist, Military History
Marketing Plan
All too often a non-fiction work goes unnoticed either due to the limited publicity and marketing efforts or the book is pre-judged by the cover or title. No Ordinary Soldier is one of those books. This book offers insight into one family's hidden secret, unknown to all but two members until recently discovered in the contents of letters, saved in the attic for 57 years.
This book also offers invaluable insight into the consequences of denying your own reality.
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9780692779972 |
PRICE | $19.99 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews

I loved this book. Mostly it is about love letters to and from the author's parents. You would think it is boring, but for some reason, I was really enjoying reading them. It is interesting to see how many service men wanted to quickly get married. It was wild to see a 'relationship' develop as the two barely ever saw each other. The fact that he was most likely gay was really only told at the end and was not the theme of the book. I would highly recommend~!

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. The author laid out the information in a manner that allowed the reader to form their own opinion. I felt sorry for her father while reading this, as it must have been horrible to keep such a big secret from those he loved.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan
General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction