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 Christmasis 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 ofThe  Greatest Generation's spirit--and a wonderful look at an  oft-forgotten side of World War II.--Sunny Delaney