Back From Combat
a new book from by Tim J Leary
Back From Combat is the story of a young couple who fell in love just before the start of World War II. Told through letters written by a soldier to his young bride, together with notes of his meetings with wounded soldiers, what emerges is an intimate perspective of life in the U.S. during World War II.
In 1941 Evelyn McEvoy, while working at a large insurance company in New Jersey, started an innocent correspondence with her co-worker’s brother that blossomed into a love story. After their marriage, Howard Leary became a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and was stationed at various bases around the United States during his military career where Evelyn joined him.
Working as a recruiter in Springfield, MO for the newly formed Women’s Army Corps (WACs), Howard hosted a weekly radio show from 1943 to 1944 called Back From Combat. The program was broadcast from O’Reilly General Hospital where seriously wounded soldiers were provided long-term medical care and rehabilitation. Howard met with and took notes about the personal battle stories relayed to him by the soldiers he interviewed on air.
The juxtaposition of Howard’s daily love letters to Evelyn, set beside the heroic stories of battle, creates a layered picture of the time than neither could illustrate alone. Back From Combat reveals the complexities of life for those who remained stateside during the war. Howard may not have seen combat, but he and Evelyn were still deeply affected by the difficulties of the war.