Non-Fiction Books

This remembrance is written from a compilation of Dad’s letters, his diary, and journal entries from 1942 through 1945. I began to write it shortly after Robert was born in 1986. Although it started as an effort to acquaint Robert with the grandfather he never knew it ended as an important chronicle of one man’s contribution to America’s victory over Germany and Italy in World War II. Dad was barely out of high school and had only ventured a few miles from his hometown of Merced, California. When he and Uncle Bob decided to “join the fight and go win the war,” he was barely 21 years old. The young man who joined the war effort shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor became a man both physically and emotionally during four years in the Army Air Force. He had been halfway around the world and had real-life experiences that most of us could only imagine. To see Dad’s physical growth, compare his 1942 cadet photo to the 1945 photo of Dad entirely at ease. Read this book to understand how the war began to weigh on Dad emotionally. He may not have slugged it out on the ground, but in many ways, this is his story of “To Hell and Back.”

This is a companion book to the Ojai Valley Vegetarian Cookbook. It includes in-depth articles on organic farmers, vendors and purveyors of fresh, local food in the Ojai Valley.