A chance for love
Subtitle: the World War II letters of Marian Elizabeth Smith and Lt. Eugene T. Petersen, USMCR
By: edited by Eugene T. Petersen.
Contributors: Petersen, Eugene T.
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: East Lansing
Language: eng
Number of pages: 461
Subjects: Smith, Marian Elizabeth, 1921- -- Correspondence.; Petersen, Eugene T. -- Correspondence.; United States. Marine Corps -- Biography.; World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American.; Women -- United States -- Biography.; Soldiers -- United States -- Biography.
Description: In mid-February 1944 Marian Elizabeth Smith, a young Wisconsin woman, met Marine Corp Lieutenant Eugene T. Petersen on the famous passenger train, El Capitan, as it made its 42-hour run from Los Angeles to Chicago. After a brief acquaintance, he left the United States to join the third Marine Division on Guam and eventually to take part in the battle for Iwo Jima in February and March of 1945.

The collected letters of their 18-month correspondence reveals much about wartime life at home and abroad and represent a time capsule of current events. After hundreds of letters the "chance for love" Marian had suggested early in their correspondence evolved into a marriage that has endured for more than half a century.