The book was written as a companion volume for the author's most recent work, Bayonets and Bougainvilleas. In this volume the author presents the verbatim text of two major source documents for that work; his father's ORAL HISTORY and his mother's TRAVEL JOURNAL, with his own added commentary. The HISTORY is the text of General Blake's official interview with Marine Corps historian Benis Frank covering the General's Marine Corps career 1917-1949. The JOURNAL is the transcript of journal entries and letters written by the author's mother during travels abroad and in the USA from 1931 to 1941. The author's commentary weaves his mother's words into a continuous narrative covering the Blakes' twenty-three year married life. Taken as a whole the book offers and unusual picture of military life in the separate words of the husband and the wife.