by Donna Borrelli Long (Editor), John Zagarella (Author)
"From Philadelphia to the Battle of Bulge" describes one pair of newlyweds from Philadelphia as they cope with separation during World War Two. Personal correspondence and photographs demonstrate how the conflict affects U.S. Army, 28th Infantryman, Pvt. John "Lefty" Zagarella and his young bride Jeanne from 1941 to 1945. This compilation of letters, postcards and v-mails depicts their lives: his during training at Army camps in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana and Florida, and then later while serving in the European Theatre of Operations; and hers, as she waited anxiously at home; both of them contemplating their future together. That future was not to be. John Zagarella perished in the vicinity of Wiltz, Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge. Jeanne preserved and treasured her collection of letters for nearly seven decades; letters that reveal an extraordinary amount of courage, honor, sacrifice and love among two ordinary Americans, nurtured as a matter of course, even during the most trying of historical circumstances.