War Ready

In My Father’S Shadow

Her memoir is seen through the eyes of the girl living it, not at decades removed, which gives it both freshness and ache. By Kirkus Indie For young Mary Lou, life was an adventure. Her father served in the military, and she traveled the world with him and her family. His assignments took them to Alaska, Virginia, Japan, Texas, and Germany, as part of the US Armys responsibilities in policing the world. This candid memoir recounts her familys life in new places and cultures following World War II. What was it like to be a child living in Japan seven years after the war? What was it like to be a thirteen-year-old living in Germany twelve years after the war? What was it like to grow up moving between cultures? This is the story of one family bound to service in the military at a time when the world was being redefined. For a young girl, it was the adventure of a lifetime as she learned the secrets of finding her own way in that new world. The authors story was informed by reading her fathers diary, which offers up intimate and candid insight into the life of a typical soldier in a time of war. His entries describe his time serving aboard a battleship built for 800 soldiersbut carrying 6,000 to war. His talestold from the perspective of a young soldier in southern England, Wales, and Scotland from 1943 to 1945are glimpses into a life many will never know firsthand.