A Chance for Love: The World War II Letters of Marian Elizabeth Smith and Lt. Eugene T. Petersen, Usmcr | 
| Author: Eugene T. Petersen
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy Used: $5.16
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Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 2596988
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 461
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0870134906
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.530922
EAN: 9780870134906
ASIN: 0870134906
Publication Date: January 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: This book is actually in very good condition. It is classified as acceptable because it was once owned by a library. Therefore it has several library stamps / stickers and a card slot in the back.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
In mid-February 1944 Marian Elizabeth Smith, a young Wisconsin woman, met Marine Corps Lieutenant Eugene T. Petersen on the passenger train, El Capitan, as it made its 42-hour run from Los Angeles to Chicago. After a brief acquaintance, he left the United States to join the Third Marine Division on Guam and eventually to take part in the battle for Iwo Jima in February and March of 1945. The collected letters of their subsequent 18-month correspondence reveal much about wartime life at home and abroad. This correspondence represents a time capsule of current events as Smith and Petersen discuss Franklin Roosevelt, the United Nations, internationalism, popular movies, the French aviator and poet Antoine de St. Exupery, the comic strip Barnaby, and the frustrations of dealing with sometimes less-than-enlightened parents. The loss of Marian's brother during the bombing of Ploesti, Rumania, in June 1944, brought Petersen and Smith closer together, and after hundreds of letters the "chance for love" Marian had suggested early in their correspondence evolved into a marriage that has endured for more than half a century.
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| Customer Reviews:
Personal Interest January 23, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As one of the Marines mentioned in this book, I am, of course, biased. However, it opens a window on the home front in those days, alternating with letters describing the tedium (and humorous events) of military life between campaigns.
Reveals the life of a replacement officer based on letters July 16, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Petersen has published all of the letters to and from his wife during his service in the Marines. As such the book is a documentary source containing unedited contemporary material. In addition, the letters relate a love story that was common during the period. The gradual changes in the relationship are revealed in the letters. The anxieties and boredom of the life of a replacement is well described and gives the reader a true insight of the personal side of the history of the 3rd Marine Division. I recommend the book highly especially for anyone who has been a replacement.
Like finding a 55 year old stack of fascinating love letters April 21, 1999
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
In February of 1944 two strangers spent 42 hours sitting next to each other on the train from Los Angeles to Chicago. They shared a few meals, much conversation, and a kiss. They found they had much in common, and before they went their separate ways in Chicago, they agreed to write each other. Gene Petersen was 23, and an officer in the Marine Corps, and Marian Smith was 22, and a secretary for a defense manufacturer. Over the course of their 18-month correspondence, they tested their views and ideals on each other, and discussed their post-war expectations and their fervent desire to make the world a better place. Gene and Marian were idealistic liberals, extremely well read, and very concerned about both national and world politics. During a troubling time for both of them, each stepped up and performed the role of best friend. Their "chance for love" turned into a life-long reality.Marian's letters reveal what life was like in the States during the end of World War II, with food shortages, travel difficulties, and long lines at movie theatres. Marian occasionally went home to Wittenberg, Wisconsin to visit and assist her parents, who had a furniture and undertaking business. "Dad took a man up to Wausau in the ambulance Tues. morning & brought him back that night in the hearse (same car - different personalities)." When Marian's brother Franklin was reported missing in action, the frequency of their letter writing increased substantially. Gene's letters show what it was like to be an officer in the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theatre, mentally juggling stretches of boredom with periods of intense combat. During the three-week battle at Iwo Jima Gene's eloquent letters turned into terse notes, but he kept writing. "March 4, 1945 - still shelling dump and airfield - infantry officers gone to front but not many specialists - 9th day today - haven't had my clothes off yet". I accelerated through this book until I finished. Somewhere around the middle I no longer felt like I was reading a book. I felt like I was reading two packets of letters I had found in the back of a drawer I shouldn't have been looking in. At times it was the historical facts which fascinated me. Other times it was sheer voyeurism.
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