“Mollie’s War,” is a memoir weaved around the collection of letters that Mollie wrote home to her family during WWII along with historical commentary concurrent with the letters. Published by McFarland Publishers in August 2010, Mollie’s War documents the human side of life during the war – a life that alternates between fear and romance, exhaustion and leisure.
Genre: Non Fiction, memoir
Published by McFarland Publishers
Why did an average Jewish-American
woman become a WAC (Women’s Army Corps) during World War II and place herself
in peril?
“Mollie’s War,” answers
this question and more. It is a memoir
weaved around the collection of letters that Mollie wrote home to her family
during WWII along with historical commentary concurrent with the letters. Published by McFarland Publishers in August
2010, Mollie’s War documents the human side of life during the war – a life
that alternates between fear and romance, exhaustion and leisure.
It took many letters
home, sharing everything from daily challenges to exciting experiences (when
the censors allowed) for my mother’s story to emerge. What was it like to be in England while the
country was under constant bombardment by unmanned German missiles? Imagine
being among the first WACs to enter Normandy after the D-Day invasion. Consider
using your French foreign language skills from high school, as my mother did in
Normandy, and when she was transferred to Paris serving as informal interpreter
in both work and social situations.
Envision a young Jewish woman in Frankfurt, Germany, on Rosh Hashanah,
1945, and walking with other soldiers and officers to the rededication of the
only standing synagogue.
The collection of
letters vividly depicts my mother’s experiences from her first train trip to
Daytona Beach, Florida, for basic training in October, 1943, to the dramatic
image of her seeing the illuminated Statue of Liberty in the midst of darkness
as her ship approached the U.S. shores when she returned home in November,
1945. This book may be the first collection
of letters published by a Jewish American WAC.
Did you ever wonder
what it would be like to work with your mother and learn about her life; and in
doing so discover a completely different person? My mother, Mollie Weinstein Schaffer was a
WAC during WWII stationed in Europe. Like
most of her generation, she did not talk about her service.
In October 2007, my
mother received a letter from the daughter of her last surviving WAC buddy that
her mother, Mary Grace Loddo Kirby, had passed away. This unfortunate event gave me the impetuous
to begin this project and see it through to the end while my mother was still
alive. I knew I was living on borrowed
time……after all my mother was 91 at the time.
My job contract ended in December 2007; so I had the time to collaborate
with my mother. Timing is everything in
life.
This project began in
earnest in January 2008. I had a
suitcase of letters that my mother wrote home as a WAC stationed in Europe
during WWII. For some reason her family
did not throw out her stuff. Included in
that suitcase were lots of memorabilia—over 350 letters, photos, and newspaper
clippings. My mother had labeled all of
the pictures with names, dates and location which helped to make my task easier.
Writing a book based on
letters from the 1940’s is a formidable task.
In order to actually be able to use these letters in a book, I needed to
read them and to transcribe them---about 1000 pages typed. Some of the original
letters were typed, some hand written and some V-mail—reduced in size and very
difficult to read. I also needed to be
familiar with the content for the book so I would have a general idea of what I
could cut out since no one would read a 1000 page book of letters. It became a family project as my husband,
sister, daughter and son all helped in the transcribing of letters.
My mother was always cognizant of her
being Jewish and this is a theme throughout the book. She grew up in a Kosher home but being in
the army changed her dietary habits.
Eating bacon for breakfast became a staple for her. On a lighter note, she was aware of the men
that she dated and was most pleased when she could describe the young soldier
as a M.O.T., member of our tribe. When
she arrived in the newly liberated Paris in September 1944, she used some Nazi
stationery to write to her family.
“Yep,
we are finally in Paris and you can see
that the Americans took over the situation. Can you imagine—ME—with the
“handle” that I’ve got using Hitler’s stationery?”
And
then she
sent another letter home describing how she was spending her first Yom Kippur
away from home
“This is
the eve of Yom Kippur and I somehow felt that you would want to know how I am
spending Yom Kippur. I am spending it just like any other day in the army—work
day. I really could have gotten time off—but I felt that I would rather work.
It’s the first time you know for me, but I feel right about it. I also decided not to fast—which is also
unusual for me—but there is no sense in attempting to work on an empty
stomach.—So there you are, and I feel right about the whole thing. Even this
moment at the office I feel just as if I were home—there is a soft reflection
of a light against my window with the grayness of a September day—and it’s
almost as if I were home and Mom had lit the candles on the living room table.
I don’t think I will go to the synagogue as it would make me homesick—and I
don’t want that to happen.…”
In sharp contrast, she was
in Frankfurt, Germany on Rosh Hashanah
1945 and witnessed the rededication of its only standing synagogue. The only reason this synagogue was not
destroyed during Kristallnacht was because of it close proximity to Nazi
buildings and the Germans did not want to risk destroying their buildings.
“The services were certainly well
attended by our Army and Navy personnel. There were a lot of high ranking
officers there, too. As for the civilian Jews, there were very few left to
attend from this once large community of 34,000 Jews. Beck, these Jews were not
dramatic, nor did they carry-on, but one could discern readily the
untold suffering they had experienced these many years. They held their heads
high—and we were all proud to be a part of them. Yes, the Germans watched us
walking in the synagogue and out—they were hanging out of their windows eyeing
us carefully. Not one remark was passed; nor did they even speak amongst
themselves, that is, while we stared back at them. This was a great day and one
I shall never forget. Although I really didn’t want to come to Germany, it was
worth it just to see all this. …”
Collaborating with my mother on this
project was a very strange experience.
It is impossible to know what your parents were like before they married
and became parents, but using my mother’s actual letters and photos felt like
being transported by time machine to another era. Reading and seeing my mother as a young
carefree woman who made decisions for herself and traveled the world during this
most treacherous time made me realize the full life that she had before she had
a family. My mother was so excited that
we were actually working on the book and writing her story because she always
wanted people to know about the role that women played in the military in WWII.
We were offered a contract in 2009 with
a traditional publisher, McFarland Publishers, who were planning on launching a
series about women in the military. Our book was published but they never added additional
books to their series. Using the actual wording from my mother’s letters
made “Mollie’s War” a first person account of World War Two in Europe. Seeing
the smile on my mother’s face when she held her book, “Mollie’s War,” in her
hand was priceless. Peppered throughout
her letters was the fact that she wanted to write a book… and it happened—only
65 years later!
“Mollie’s War” won first place in
biography/memoir at the 2012 Royal Dragonfly Book Contest, a bronze medal in
autobiography at the 2011 Stars and Flags Book Awards and was a finalist in the
2011 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year contest.
My mother passed away on April 8, 2012 during Passover. We remember and are thankful for the courageous "call to duty" that the Mollies and others of her generation felt so that we could all be free.
Books by Ted William Gross
If you wish to purchase the books at Smashwords click here.
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