ARMY GUY, RED CROSS GAL
With Ellen England
Pale Oak Publishing, 2023
IN EARLY 1942, just months after Pearl Harbor, a young attorney from a small Indiana town joined the U.S. Army, determined to serve his country as war engulfed the globe. A year later, in 1943, a young music teacher from that same small town joined the American Red Cross, her mission to boost troop morale overseas.
Never did their paths cross during World War II, never did their duties – wildly different – overlap. But the two were united by the ethic of teamwork, sacrifice, determination, and courage, the same ethic that propelled millions of Americans in the early 1940s to adjust the course of their lives and vigorously defend freedom.
Bill Husselman served as a military police lieutenant with General George S. Patton’s Third Army as it marched across northwest Europe. Mary Brandon was a Red Cross club worker who offered aid and comfort to U.S. Fifth Army troops fighting their way up Italy’s boot. This book is a firsthand account of their wartime experiences, told through letters and photographs preserved by their families.
Narration stitches the letters together and puts them in historical context, showing how Bill and Mary were near or in the heart of action – as Allied forces fought at Anzio and Monte Cassino, rested on the Isle of Capri, liberated Rome, swept across France, prevailed at the Battle of the Bulge, crossed the mighty Rhine, and witnessed horrors at Buchenwald.
The letters address the war’s hardships and monotony. They speak of love for family and home. Bill’s and Mary’s stories are separate, important, and riveting – and they meld into one story when the war ends.
“Army Guy, Red Cross Gal pulls readers into the extraordinary story of two young Americans in Europe during World War II. In their letters home Mary Brandon and Bill Husselman reveal the heroism and horror of war. . . . Morrow provides thoughtful contexts and meanings that connect two fascinating people to this war and to our world today.” - James H. Madison, professor emeritus of history at Indiana University and author of Slinging Doughnuts for the Boys: An American Woman in World War II
“Morrow and England add the crucial ingredient that transforms a stack of old letters into a compelling historical narrative: context. For readers who are a little rusty on the details of the conflict – today, that would be most of us – this book mixes in just enough of the larger historical perspective to help make sense of Bill’s and Mary’s experiences and observations. . . . To grasp the near-universal impact World War II had on ordinary families such as your own in towns small and large, you don’t have to read a book about every couple who went to war. You just have to read one or two like this one.” - Tim Harmon, retired editorial writer, The Fort Wayne [IN] Journal Gazette
“Descriptive, candid letters written by the ‘Army Guy’ and the ‘Red Cross Gal’ are set in context by deeply researched, compelling text that unfolds a narrative; it whisks the reader from the daily routine in training camps to the unspeakable atrocities at Buchenwald.” - Nelson Price, author and weekly host of “Hoosier History LIVE” on WICR-FM (Indianapolis)
“Army Guy, Red Cross Gal offers readers a fascinating look at the lives of two ordinary Hoosiers during an extraordinary time in this country’s history. . . . A compelling narrative about World War II.” - Ray E. Boomhower, author and senior editor at the Indiana Historical Society Press
“[Morrow] masterfully weaves in interesting and intriguing historic accounts of the war in Europe, which made it a page-turner for me.” - Terry Housholder, retired publisher of KPC Media Group
READER REVIEWS ONLINE
“This book is absolutely incredible.”
“It’s a must read for everyone!”
“Highly recommended!”
“Well written and kept me engaged through the entire book.”
“An important addition to the literature of World War 2.”
Ellen England, daughter of Bill and Mary, organized and transcribed all 505 of her parents’ war letters and shared them with Barbara.
(Above) Mary enjoys some music with soldiers at the U.S. Fifth Army Rest Center in Rome in June 1944 (photo courtesy National Archives). Bill stands beside a captured German Opel in early winter 1945, not long after the Battle of the Bulge (photo courtesy Ellen England).
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