James Gavin's letters home to his nine-year-old daughter Barbara capture the day-to-day realities of combat in Europe and Gavin's immediate, personal reactions to the war he helped to win. Often written in dangerous circumstances and sometimes just before or after a jump, they begin at Fort Bragg in 1943 and continue to December 1945, just before "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin returned home to lead the 82nd in the Victory Parade in New York. -- "In her prologue, epilogue, and notes, Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy gives a glimpse of the private man. Historical overviews by Starlyn Jorgensen set the letters against the background of Gavin's campaigns. Edited by Gayle Wurst, the correspondence also includes photographs, an introd. from the publisher.

Color map on lining papers.