American Soldier: A Love Story

The whimsical adventures of a young, mischievous boy in the 1920's in Middle America meet with the horrifying realities of war as John Allen Bigelow's story unfolds. Leaving his hometown of Lombard, Illinois at a tender age, he hitches rides on boxcars across the country seeking work during the Great Depression. His quest for money and adventure is amply met as he takes jobs on merchant ships to exotic places like North Africa, Hong Kong and Australia. But adventure collides with reality in the cruelest sense when he joins the army in 1941. Expecting to enjoy his assignment among the friendly Filipino people, John finds himself in the terrifying heat of battle, outnumbered and outgunned by the merciless Japanese. Bleeding from a gunshot wound and captured, John joins the gruesome Bataan Death March of World War II. Will he survive starvation, disease and the brutality of his captors for over three years? Readers will hold their breath as they live through these years of inhuman cruelty and a survivor's strength, and will marvel at an extraordinary story about a boy's love for mischief, a young man's love for adventure, a soldier's love for country, and finally, a hero's love for his wife and daughter. Grief will overcome them as they stumble alongside him carrying fellow soldiers to their graves, but redemption will fill their hearts upon his return home, as they savor his tender romance with Emily. Through it all, they'll marvel at his unrelenting faith. "A fellow never really appreciates freedom until it is taken away from him. It is without a doubt the most precious thing we have. How many, many times since my liberation have I given thanks for the great privilege of being an American." -First letter home after the end of WWII.