Home Front to Battlefront by Frank Lavin

“I’ll be assigned and sent up in a day or two, but meanwhile I’m sleeping in a barn and eating warm meals so I’m comfortable enough so far. One nice thing about war is that no one gives much of a damn about anything.”

Ohio University Press asked us to work on the wonderful Home Front to Battlefront: An Ohio Teenager in World War II by Frank Lavin. TIPS handled the copy edit and composition. A historical, letter-collecting book such as this is an interesting project for its photographs, endnotes, and excerpts in particular.

Carl Lavin, a Jewish Ohioan, joins the army and the fight when he is young, but his quick mind picks up on everything, from the “chicken” of bureaucracy to the “latrine-gram” rumors. Within a well-researched narrative crafted by his son, Lavin’s letters provide both thoughtful commentary on war and loving banter to family, reminding readers of the role of a foot soldier in a war that absorbed the world, and that fudge is always welcome at a battlefront.

Read more about the book and buy it here!

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