WATER FOR THE TROOPS

About the Book

This book is about a forty-five-year-old man who left his wife of twenty-three years, his four children, and his home to volunteer in the US Army during World War II. It is about Florence, his wife, who not only shouldered the responsibility of their home, paying the bills on a small income, but also worked as a volunteer Red Cross nurse’s aide for two days a week, a volunteer at the Red Cross headquarters in Carmel, New York, for two days a week, and later as head of the Red Cross Special Services at the Red Cross headquarters. It is also about a family coping with my father’s absence and waiting for his return. It is about his expressions of love in his v-mail and airmail letters for his little son, his teenage daughter, and two adult children. Finally, it is also about the small village of Brewster, fifty two miles north of New York City, where this soldier and patriot, my father, was raised and acquired the values that guided his life.

About the Author

Dolores Beal Stephens is the author of Those Who Served/Those Who Waited and Tonetta Lake - A Memoir. She was a teenager during World War II and thus her books reflect her experiences and memories of the years between 1938 and 1944. Water For The Troops contains the surviving letters and journals that her brother had in his possession; she was delighted to receive them and to finally give their father the recognition and honor he deserves. She has spoken at Veterans Home in Tilton, N.H. and other veterans groups - the Rotary Club in Wolfeboro, N. H. the Southeast Museum in Brewster, N. Y. and the Wright Museum in Wolfeboro, N. H. Since 2002 she has served as a volunteer docent at the Wright Museum for which service the founder David Wright in 2003 presented her with the Voice Of The Museum Award and in 2017 she was presented a Lifetime Award recognizing her dedication. Mrs. Stephens lives with her husband in New Hampshire.