Life next door to a pig barnFalling dollar to D-Mark valueNuclear warheads down the streetThe Winged Victory gracing the LouvreFrom mundane to the sublime, author Mary Linda Miller wrote thirty-four letters home and described life as the wife of a drafted Army private while living on a farm in Schwäbisch Gmünd, West Germany for a year from 1970 to 1971. Her first person narrative recounted a piece of Cold War/Vietnam era history not often seen in print-from a woman's point of view. While many military inductees who were drafted in 1970 went to fight in Vietnam, many others were deployed to different parts of the world. Some went to West Germany to support roaming flatbed trucks that bore nuclear-armed Pershing missiles-part of the U.S. Cold War strategy against the Soviet Union. With little media coverage during that era, the men who served on the front lines in Europe are largely overlooked, even today, nearly fifty years later.One such newly-drafted private Lee Zimmer uprooted his wife Mary, despite her reluctance to go, having no preparation or plans for such a radical change in life when they married. They made the best of their situation, living amongst local Germans; sightseeing on weekends in their car; and using leave time to travel more extensively to other parts of Europe. In her letters, Mary described sometimes chaotic, unpredictable situations; the financial conditions of the era; weather and food; as well as good times with friends or new acquaintances and irreplaceable memories.Despite Lee's good fortune in avoiding the horrors of jungle warfare, this couple's future was altered in ways they could never imagine. From the chaos of unexpected change came the inspiration to find an equally unexpected future.
About the Author: Reared in St. Louis, Missouri, Mary Linda Miller graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Maryville University in 1978; worked for twenty-five years doing design, drafting, and technical writing in the fields of civil engineering and architecture while living in St. Louis, Phoenix, and Hawaii; and traveled extensively in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. She currently resides in Orlando, Florida with her husband of thirty-eight years Carmelo L. Monti, RA. Their son Jason Miller Monti lives in Otoba, Japan, where he teaches English to fifth and sixth grade students. Mary has published a novel, a children's book, a collection of photographs, and four books of family history and genealogy, and her poetry appears in three anthologies.