The General and His Daughter: The War Time Letters of General James M. Gavin to his Daughter Barbara

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ★ ........................................................... The General and His Daughter Photo of Major General James M. Gavin for the cover of the Sunday News, February 24, 1946, taken at the time of the Victory Parade. (Photo courtesy of Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ★ ........................................................... The General and His Daughter The Wartime Letters of general james m. gavin to His Daughter barbara ................ Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy Commentary and Notes by Starlyn Jorgensen Edited by Gayle Wurst fordham university press New York : 2007 Copyright 䉷 2007 Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy (prologue, epilogue letters), Starlyn Jorgensen (commentary and notes), Gerard M. Devlin (introduction), Rufus Broadaway (foreword), Gayle Wurst (editor’s note) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gavin, James M. (James Maurice), 1907–1990 The general and his daughter : the wartime letters of General James M. Gavin to his daughter Barbara / edited by Gayle Wurst.—1st ed. p. cm. —(World War II, the global, human, and ethical dimension) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8232-2687-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8232-2687-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Gavin, James M. (James Maurice), 1907—Correspondence. 2. Generals —United States —Biography. 3. United States. Army —Biography. 4. United States. Army —Airborne troops —History. 5. World War, 1939–1945—Aerial operations, American. I. Wurst, Gayle. II. Fauntleroy, Barbara Gavin. III. Title. U53.G38G38 2007 940.54⬘1273092—dc22 [B] 2007000873 Printed in the United States of America 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1 First edition To the World War II paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne and to those gallant young men who were lost along the way. ‘‘Most soldiers like to write letters; it is a form of self-expression otherwise denied them. They can talk shop, etc. all day long but they can talk to no one as they can their own kin. Letters mean a great deal to them.’’ —from letter of June 25, 1943 from James M. Gavin to Barbara Gavin Every soldier needs to know that someone at home is thinking of him and praying for him, that someone cares whether he lives or dies. —Barbara Gavin’s annotation to her father’s letter ...