A STORY OF LOVE AND WAR
By Robert V. Parenti
The
year is 1943, the height of World War II. Bob Parenti, an
18-year-old high school senior, enlists in a special
Army program that provides qualified enlistees with the
opportunity to attend college and receive an officer’s
commission upon graduation.
While in college he meets a young lady, who will be the
recipient of many letters written during the war years
that follow.
The army terminates the program after only 10 months and
Bob, like the others in the program, finds himself in
the swamps of Louisiana on war maneuvers with the 8th
Armored Division, destined to be shipped overseas for
the impending invasion of Europe.
The letters, saved but forgotten until recently
re-discovered, chronicle Bob’s experiences in England,
France, Belgium, Holland and Germany during the battles
for victory and provide an historical review from a
soldier’s perspective.
Robert V. Parenti has been a practicing attorney now for
more than 50 years, having been admitted to the Michigan
Bar in 1951, after his military service.
Click here to visit Garylaw.com.
The last 20 years of his practice were in Stuart,
Florida, where he now resides, finally retired with
Laurie, the recipient of the letters written to her as
his sweetheart during World War II.
Dedication
It took three
years for me to complete this project, and without the
help and encouragement of friends and family, it never
would have been done.
I asked myself
many times the philosophical question, “Why?” and
struggled with a rational answer.
The answer
came when I realized that the uncommon stories of common
soldiers of all wars, who fought and died for our
country, are rarely told and are usually buried with
them. It is to honor those forgotten heroes that this
effort was completed and it is to them that this story
is dedicated.
