Veterans | Susan Baganz

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Author Confessions: Happy Memorial Day

I hope that wherever you are you are getting a chance today to remember that many who have gone before us and some who left us way too soon. They sacrificed for the freedom we enjoy today.

Memorial Day is to remember those veterans who have died, whether during service or after. I found this short poem years ago and put it as my Facebook header every year at this time because Joseph Rodman Drake wrote it so beautifuly. “And they who for their country died shall fill and honored grave, for glory lights the soldier’s tomb and beauty weeps the brave.”

As this weekend is upon us, I’m thinking of my grandfather, James B. Pollard, who passed away in 1989 after a battle with cancer. Both wars that are difficult for the individual and the families left behind. During WWII he kept a journal of his experinces. Not day by day, but musings of things he couldn’t send in a letter to his wife and two children left at home in Wisconsin. They didn’t know where he was going and what he would face. Reading his memories forced me to rethink about the men who fought (and still fight) our battles. Many are so very young. My grandfather had a toddler and newborn when he left for war, but many others did not. Some were wiser and mature and others were foolish and impulsive and he details the shenanigans and difficulties. My grandmother gave me permission to publish this work. I primarily wanted it to be something for my kids, grandkids, or anyone else interested. That little book is in kindle and print at the lowest price I could make it, so I don’t profit off of it. Journey to Lekhipani: A G.I.’s Experiences in WWII. It’s not a long read but he had a way with words and I could almost see and smell India when he writes about arriving there.

Version 1.0.0

This book is also in the U.S. Army War College Library and Archives at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center at Carlisle, Pa, due to an assist from my first cousin once removed, Richard S. Brown, who has also written a book, and his interview on my blog can be found here. There isn’t much written about the war in India, but that was where my grandfather was sent. Just writing about this now makes me want to read his book again this weekend, even though I retyped the entire thing to get it published, it’s a story that resonates with me. He was my grandpa but long before that he fought for the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren to come, and many who would never get to know the sweet man he was.

Grandpa lived to come home, have another child and raise his family and lived to see grandchildren. So many others never got that opportunity. My grandmother never spoke about the war to her children and didn’t save the letters she exchanged with her husband during that time. It was too painful. My father said that as a child the Army stuff was stashed in a corner of the garage. After his death, however, with military honors, the flag was in a box and kept as a momento by her until she too passed away.

I was twenty-three when Grandpa died and I still have fond memories of him from my childhood. I grieved the the future he would never have, that he wouldn’t be there to see me reach certain milestones in life. He was only sixty-eight when he died.

This year my husband lost his older brother who also served in the Army, and he too, died way too soon. Memorial Day will be significantly more poignant because of that.

What is it about a 21 gun salute, followed by Taps, that makes me cry? Death, sacrifice, freedom. As they say, freedom is never free. Unfortunately, too many these days feel entitled to it but would never sacrifice their lives for it.

My publisher has been promoting my novel, Finnian’s Rescue, and while it is about a veteran, he doesn’t die in this story. If you like a military survival story, you can check it out and I’ll be thrilled if you would write a review. If you purchase and read my grandfather’s tome, a review there would be lovely as well. Other military romantic suspenses I’ve written with DeeDee Lake are: Operation: Camouflage Christmas, Operation: Allegiance, Operation: Reconnaissance and Operation: Skirmish and hopefully come December: Mission: Hannah’s Heart.

Enjoy this day, but don’t forget and thank God for the brave men and women who have died to give us the opportunity picnic, work in the yard, celebrate with friends, go camping, have a parade, and eat brats (I’m in Wisconsin, it’s a thing). Thank Him as well for the families left behind, some of whom never got to hug their service member when the war was over, but instead stood beside a flag draped coffin.

How does this relate to fiction? That is a work in progress for next year. You’ll have to wait and see, but the past impacts the present in a beautiful way, and of course it’s a romance.

Happy Memorial Day.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

It’s not too early for a Christmas story, is it? I don’t think so, especially when mom snuggles up to me to read it. Snow Angels is Cathe Swanson’s debut novel.

Lisa is a widow still locked inside a prison of grief and self-recrimination. Pete is not who he initially appears to be. She thinks he’s homeless but has potential. Pete thinks Lisa is bossy and treats him with disrespect. Never mind that he was kind of mean to her when they first met at Thanksgiving at the Community Center, or that his beard was raggedy and his clothes and smell were more like a hobo than the director he really was.

Misconceptions abound as Lisa works through her grief and finds new purpose that snowballs far beyond her original plans to help one man. She gives him a job that employs many more and he allows it because, in spite of her bossiness, she’s doing great work.

Going outside her comfort zone puts her face to face with someone else who struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and who chooses to stay stuck. The mirror reflects Lisa’s own reality and as she struggles to come to grips with her past, she’s also forced to acknowledge a growing attraction to the shabbily-dressed man she’s tried to help.

As truths come to light, both Pete and Lisa have to come clean. Without using the Scripture, Cathe Swanson illustrates the concept that God washes us white as snow. It’s not always an easy process but the relationships we build on the way make the journey worthwhile.

This book is a novella -but a long one which means I got extra snuggles as she read it. It is well worth the read for a glimpse into our own misconceptions about the homeless and downtrodden as well as moving past our mistakes into a “new normal.” I applaud Ms. Swanson’s debut effort! It’s a Christmas story that goes deep to the heart of what really matters. I give it five bones, because I’m a dog. I don’t do stars.

5 bones for blog