Dearest Ones: A True World War II Love Story

by Rosemary Norwalk

Book Overview

Based on letters and journal entries, this memoir of a World War II Red Cross volunteer tells the story of the little known women and men whose combined efforts made the difference in the outcome of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471320498
• ISBN13: 9780471320494
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Very well-written diary

I picked up "Dearest Ones" in a discount store and didn't expect much. There's a certain sameness to the World War II diaries of young women: young woman from small town bucks convention, kisses parents good-bye, and runs off to get liberated. She has some very mild adventures, makes a lot of friends, says "gee golly whiz" a lot, and swans on home at the end of the book. A postscript informs us that she settled down with a man named Bob or Hank or Earl, of whom we heard absolutely nothing in the course of the book except for a few mentions of "letters from So-and-So in the South Pacific," and is living somewhere in the midwest near her three grown children. Boy, was I surprised, and pleasantly so. Perhaps it helps that Rosemary Langheldt was older, in her mid-twenties, and already a career woman when she applied to join the Red Cross overseas. It also helps that she seems to have been a very curious and thoughtful person. As other reviews have mentioned, she takes notice not only of the glitz and fun of work abroad, but of Britain's sometimes stifling class distinctions, American racial prejudice, and the difficult moral compromises involved in the occupation of Germany. There is also plenty of romance, fun, and gee-golly-whiz adventure, but one never gets the sense that Rosemary lost track of her primary reasons for being in the Red Cross or saw her job as a mere means of adventure. Rather, she was there to work and the adventure happened along the way. She was keenly interested in other people, making this book a pleasure to read-- it can be incredibly frustrating to read a diary when the only "character" the diarist is able to make three-dimensional is the diarist herself. She had a skill for interacting with people (I get the sense that I would never in a million years have been able to handle her job) and trying to understand them, and that curiosity and interest in humanity permeates the whole book. (I also feel compelled to mention, as a reader, that I really appreciated the narrative cohesiveness of this book. If someone is introduced, then they will be around until a reason for their departure is given. A lot of diaries suffer from people and events appearing, disappearing, reappearing, necessitating either a lot of head-scratching or awkward footnotes. This book doesn't have that problem. Rosemary was a really excellent correspondent.) This is really a stellar example of the genre, probably one of the best I've read.

Why did it have to end?

This book just can't be put down. Many thanks to Ms.Norwalk for sharing her amazing experiences. Dearest One has an honored place on my bookshelf.

A touching remembrance of my war.

I did not have the pleasure of being served by Rosies and her crew in England.I spent my war in Italy and fell in love with the "Red Cross Girls".They were so brave in bringing their coffee and doughnuts to all of the combat troops and placing themselves in danger against advice.Rosies'book recalled those glorious days and the great treat it was to see those fine girls who gave of themselves as well as the coffee and doughnuts.

A treasured book!

What a wonderful book! Rosie's letters and journal entries transport the reader to the 1940s like no other book I have read. This book offers a keen insight, as well, into the American Red Cross, an organization that is what it is because of people like Rosie. Bravo!