I'll Be Home for Christmas: The Library of Congress Revisits the Spirit of Christmas During World War II

In December 1943, Jill Oppenheim wrote to her husband, Alfred de Grazia, who was serving in the 5th Army overseas:

...I am cheerless in the exact proportions to which Bob Hope et al were full of holiday mirth. There is a peculiar psychology in missing someone you love--the pain becomes greatest during the times you deviate from the ordinary, & to most people, distasteful, routine of living--the Sundays, the feast days, the idle moments just before you go to bed.

For thousands of soldiers and their families, the Decembers during World War II were especially trying times. Far away from friends and family, the men and women serving overseas made do as best they could to celebrate, some decorating trees with C-ration cans or surgical gloves, some making up gifts for local children, and all hoping for packages from home. Those on the home front made do as well, dealing with travel restrictions and rationing--or, worse, the loss of friends and family. I'll Be Home for Christmas is a bittersweet look at how the holiday was celebrated during the dark Decembers of World War II. Taken from the archives of the Library of Congress, stories, correspondence, illustrations, diary excerpts, and photographs provide poignant glimpses of how America survived the war years. Even Grinches and Scrooges will be touched by a Christmas letter to his mother from Emit F. Logan, imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp; or a little boy's gift to thrice-wounded marine Edward Andrusko; or pictures of GIs in foxholes, grinning as they open their Christmas packages. A wonderful celebration of The Greatest Generation's spirit--and a wonderful look at an oft-forgotten side of World War II. --Sunny Delaney

1 The Real Chicken Soup for Your Soul
This book is by and about ordinary people in extraordinary times, whose prayers were sometimes answered, and sometimes not. It's also about real people at the one time of the year when everyone is vulnerable, people who mostly made it through the war with quiet faith and courage, despite everything. I remember as a young boy during this time seeing gold stars in peoples' windows at Christmas (a sign that they had lost a loved one) and yet right behind it, a Christmas tree.

I bought "I'll Be Home for Christmas" for my daughter and told her that this book is the real "Chicken Soup for the Soul"--written by people who sometimes didn't have enough ration coupons for the chicken-or for a holiday goose-but celebrated anyway.

It's a great history lesson and a good read.

2 Best Christmas Book Ever
I'll Be Home For Christmas is a must have. This book recreates Christmas time all over the world telling the stories of soldiers at the front, in prison camps (both sides), familys at home, and at internment camps. Filled with great pictures, excerpts from diaries, and newspaper clippings it leaves the reader with a feeling of gratefullness for what they went through. Some is funny, but most is thoughtful or just plain sad. Now I wouldn't put this up with say A Christmas Carol, but it is one that you can choose one story that means something in partucular to you. Each story being uniquely different,and is one that everyone can enjoy.