The Box from Braunau Starts a Conversation

Last week I drove 50 miles north to pay a visit to Clayton Warman and his wife, Anne. Clayton is a decorated veteran of World War II who served alongside my father in Patton's Third Army, the 80th Infantry Division. I met him while working on the book, and we quickly became friends.

We settled in to catch up in his comfy living room that looks out on the Catoctin mountain range, and Clayton told me this story:

His granddaughter had stopped by the previous evening, just to say hi. My book, The Box from Braunau was on the floor by her chair. She saw it and asked her grandfather if he knew the soldier whose photo graced the cover. He said yes, he had known my father during the war.

Had I written about Clayton in the book? she asked then. When he said I had, she wanted to read it.

Over the course of the next three hours, she drew him into a conversation about the war - not only his personal stories and his feelings about going to war, but the wider implications regarding the political situation that led up to it.

My book got them talking. Clayton told me that none of his grandchildren had ever asked about his experiences during World War II before. He seemed happy that the book had opened the door to a new conversation with his young granddaughter.

Women Veterans Are More Apt to Become Homeless

Men - they certainly took up most of the space in my book about my father and his experiences in World War II. The fighting Army then was made up entirely of men, with women occupying the more supportive roles. Of course, times have changed now, and women are part of the fighting force in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are some startling and disturbing statistics about women veterans and homelessness, offered by Bryan Bender, of the Boston Globe (July 5, 2009). This came to me via Ilona Meagher's terrific blog.

"As more women serve in combat zones, the share of female veterans who end up homeless, while still relatively small at an estimated 6,500, has nearly doubled over the last decade, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. For younger veterans, it is even more pronounced: One out of every 10 homeless vets under the age of 45 is now a woman, the statistics show. ...

"Overall, female veterans are now between two and four times more likely to end up homeless than their civilian counterparts, according to the VA, most as a result of the same factors that contribute to homelessness among male veterans: mental trauma related to their military service and difficulty transitioning into the civilian economy. ...

"According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, a nonpartisan advocacy group in Washington, about 23 percent of the homeless population in the United States are veterans. Nearly half are from the Vietnam era and three-fourths experience some type of alcohol, drug, or mental heath problem. Most of the homeless vets, who are estimated by the Veteran’s Administration to number at least 130,000 on any given night nationwide, are men older than 50.

"With a new generation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan leaving the armed forces, however, the demographics are swiftly changing. And with more women serving on active duty - a full 15 percent of the military is now female - the share of female homeless veterans has grown from about 3 percent a decade ago to 5 percent, according to the VA."



There are more problems for women veterans. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report recently detailing significant barriers faced by women veterans when trying to access VA care. You can read more about this on the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) website. This group works hard for the welfare of our veterans.

Box from Braunau Resonates with Baby Boomers

Thank you for coming to read my blog. In the weeks since The Box from Braunau came out, I've noticed that much of the interest in it comes from other baby boomers, that is, people whose fathers may have served in either World War II, or the Korean War. They want to touch the past, to understand their own father's war, or to fill in the gaps in their family history. The Box from Braunau has had an impact on them. Here are some of the comments readers have made:

"Your book and some of the similarities moved me immensely...The timing in your story and mine are different, some of the key characters rearranged, but at many points I felt like I was reliving some of my early angst through you. It has had a profound effect on my and I will have to put this on my list of all-time favorite books."

"I think there's much in the book that can touch a lot of people, not just those with fathers who 'went to war.' Don't we all, when we're older, wish we'd taken the time to talk more to our parents, find out who they really were - you actually followed through on that."

"I read your blog and was struck that our journeys to understand our fathers' war seem to be on parallel tracks. I think there must be countless baby boomers who are on the same path..."

"I connected with your story because of my own experience. My guess is that you hear from a lot of people about how the book helped them better understand their own fathers' experience.

"I am overwhelmed by your generosity in helping me find some piece of this big huge puzzle I've opened.

"My father was a bomber pilot in WWII. THis book helped me better connect to his era and understand why his war experience as a young man made such an indelible impact on the rest of his life."

"You are taking a great step in the healing work that continues generations after WWII."

Thanks to all readers for the comments so far. I would love to hear more from you. Share your stories with me by leaving a comment here!