ASTHMA AND CARPET

Dearest Ones: A True World War II Love Story

"Charming . . . an intimate memory of a time that has gone forever." Rosamunde Pilcher

"An amazing narrative . . . Everything about this account is blazingly authentic. There is no pretense, no false modesty or grandstanding. The gray privations of life in cold, wet wartime England come alive." Washington Post

"A different perspective on the war from those in the thick of battle or those writing on the home front. . . . The author s letters . . . speak of the camaraderie and adventure of it all . . . she paints the everyday details, not the heroics." Dallas Morning News

"A fascinating work of social history, revealing much about British life and American attitudes fifty years ago." Sunday Times (London)

This captivating memoir of a World War II Red Cross volunteer recounts the touching stories of American women and men who served their country abroad. Based on richly detailed and beautifully written letters and journal entries, Rosemary Norwalk tells the unfolding love stories of her and her friends while stationed in England. Deflecting the advances of GIs of every stripe, but caught up in the romantic excitement of the times, they meet and fall in love with their future husbands and make plans for life after the war. With its absorbing narrative of devotion and heroism, Dearest Ones delivers an emotional testament to the endurance of the American spirit and an exquisite tale of love s discovery.

This affecting memoir by a Red Cross volunteer eschews sentimental cliches about World War II. Letters to the author's parents in San Francisco, supplemented by entries from a journal in which she recorded material she feared would disturb either them or the censors, relay Rosemary Norwalk's experiences in England during the war's final year and for a few months in Germany after it ended. The Red Cross "girls" served doughnuts and coffee to soldiers disembarking from or boarding ships to the European front, but the mundane nature of their work didn't prevent sharp observers like Rosemary from grasping how this bitter, global conflict was indelibly marking her generation. The author's youthful prose is no more than serviceable in her letters and at times in the journals even self-conscious, but her insights are impressive. Thumbnail portraits of her Red Cross buddies are vivid and perceptive; her political maturity shows in biting remarks about average Germans' willed blindness to the horrors of the Holocaust--and, much more impressive for a young woman on the winning side, in her acknowledgment that many Americans probably would have done the same. Her romance with the army captain she eventually married was similarly grown-up (he had an estranged wife and a young child), and readers will root for their happy ending. --Wendy Smith

Norwalk had it's own privately owned horse race track and airport, Delpert Field, west of Studebaker at Leffingwell. (my office was at this location in the 1980's).

The airport was established in 1944, known as Delpert Airpark, and operated until 1955, when the area was used for many tract homes and schools.

From a website:
THE ONLY AIRPORT DISCOVERED IN NORWALK, DELPERT AIRPARK, WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1944 BY PRIVATE PARTIES WHO OPERATED THE AIRPORT UNTIL ABOUT 1955. THERE WAS NO WRITTEN OR ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE THAT DELPERT AIRPARK WAS USED BY THE ARMY OR ANY OTHER BRANCH OF THE MILITARY. DELPERT AIRPARK WAS NEVER KNOWN AS NORWALK AIRPORT.

An aerial view of Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, California, along with new tract homes. Norwalk Blvd. runs horizontal across the middle of the photo. Whittier is to the top left of the photo.

There's a reason that this fab, funky dress is headlining Pregnancy & Newborn magazine's fall fashion spread (September 2009, page 50) - it's the perfect transition piece. The colours say fall, but it's lightweight enough for late summer. Wear it over jeans in the day, and then with tights and boots for an evening out. Best of all, the pleated front and triple tie waist will work from just-found-out-I'm pregnant to ready-to-burst! And it's a great postpartum dress, too! Noppies, by the way, is a great Dutch design house, and they want you to put your own stamp on this dress - wear it with a scarf like the model did, or try the bright red tights!

<< Arhiva >>