At War and at Home

This extraordinary collection of World War II correspondence offers a fascinating look at the lives of an average American family from western Pennsylvania. With all three sons participating in the war, the McClung family members, all remarkably good letter-writers, had ample opportunity to share their thoughts and views on life in the war and on the home front.

In the family's small town of Butler, Pennsylvania, Frank McClung was not only a banker but also an air raid warden, a war bond drive solicitor, and a farmer. His wife Mary was president of the local YWCA and sponsored social events for the servicemen and servicewomen stationed nearby, and teen-age daughter Mary Anne helped to support various activities on the home front. The sons' war participation was extensive: Bud, an enlisted man with an anti-aircraft artillery unit in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe; Bob, a Navy pilot and aircraft carrier landing signal officer in the Pacific Theater; and Dick, an aide to the General Counsel of the Navy in Washington, DC.

Vivid and detailed, "At War and at Home: One Family's World War II Correspondence" shares the McClung family's widely ranging views on life, literature, politics, and the conduct of war.