Midmorning With Aundrea - October 7, 2020 (Part 3)

(Part 3 of 4) The new book "Dear Selma" gives a fascinating portrait of a soldier stationed in Europe during World War 2 who wrote detailed letters of his wartime experiences to a childhood friend.

Th this year marks 75 years since the end of world war two.

More than 16 million americans served in the war.

Now, a new book offers fresh insight into life on the frontlines, through a series of letters written by one young soldier.

The detailed notes in "dear selma allow readers to experience the day- to- day struggles and triumphs of american troops in europe.

As chip reid shows us, the letters had a lasting impact on the lives they touched.

"that's right ther yeah" bernard brown&.

Now 96 years old& was just 19 when he was drafted into the army during world war 2.

Weapons firing longing for connection back home... he started writing to a childhood friend... a young woman named selma.

March 10th, 1944&.

Dear selma& just four months after d-day... brown's unit boarded a ship to europe.

áá his frequent letters to selma paint a vid picture of the sacrifice of american forces on the front lines.

"after spendin four nights and three days in the mud, sleeping, eating, and trying to fight.

He describes living in "a fo hole..."

In "the thi of battle in france" ... and the haunting image of the gaunt jewish prisoners his unit helped liberate from the dachau concentration camp.

But amid the chaos of war... the letters gradually became a declaration of love.

It just made me feel good every time i read her letters and i thought, you know, i've got to know her better& i just have to know her better.

You got pretty sappy there at some points... yes, i was eager, i really was.

If you only knew how much i want to come back to you so you and i can start living a life together.

And after the germans surrendered in 1945... brown did just that... marrying selma three months after he returned home.

Eventually they had three children& and later five grandchildren.

They were married for 72 years before selma passed away in 2017.

As his family prepared to move him into a portland retirement facility& his daughter shelley came across a dusty old box.

It was probably about 600 pages of handwritten letters.

// we would call up dad up and say 'tell us about this, what did that mean?'

And then the kind of memories that were coming out of his mind were incredible.

Although brown earned a bronze star and a purple heart.... he rarely shared stories of his time overseas.

When you read these letters that you had written so many years before, did they bring tears to your eyes?

They did, they brought a lot of memories to me.

How important is it for somebody who is on the frontlines to have somebody at home to write to on a regular basis?

100 percent, 100 percent.

I don't care how many letters you got, it wasn't enough.

// i'd read her letters and i just felt strong all over again.

Shelley convinced bernard to publish the letters in a book... dedicated to those who didn't make it back home.

So you learned a lot, not only about your mother's and father's relationship - how it began... but alot about your father?

Yes.

In some ways, are these kind of love letters to you too?

Yes, because we're here and if he hadn't have made it through, we wouldn't be here.

A treasure trove of long-forgotten letters... telling a family's love story for generations to come.

Chip reid, washington.

"dear selma: world war two love letter romance" is o sale now.

All proceeds from the book will be donated to ronald mcdonald house.

Bernard says shelley was hospitalized for several months as a young child-- and with the money from this book, he hopes to help áotherá families in the same position.

Some things are just meant to be.

Steve hartman has the story of a special delivery brought about by kindness.

Here's steve "o the road."

At a second hand store in baltimore we found a first rate fish story.

Last week, someone posted a picture of this bizarre chair on a facebook page called "weir second hand finds that just need to be shared."

And when syracuse auto mechanic emily delfavero saw that chair, she about had a cow&because of what's on her calf.

And here's the truly amazing part - emily never owned the chair - she just saw it, áonceá years ago, and felt strangely compelled to have it tattooed.

Bite emily "that' the fate about it.

I saw that chair and it was everything for me.

Steve: you make it seem almost mystical.

Emily: i believe that it is.

Steve: almost like you have to get the tattoo and you don't know why.

Emily: exactly."

But answers áwereá coming.

After she posted a picture of her tattoo on that facebook page... bite group member "i was like, 'oh m god.'" &hundreds of women in the group felt a call to action.

Bites group members "i belonged to her."

"steve: you fel like emily had to have this chair.

Group member: a chair like that and a tattoo that matches - it's kismet, it's serendipity, it just has to happen."

Std-up / so, even though none of these women had ever met, they started a gofundme.

Raised 6-hundred dollars to buy the chair for this total stranger - and then devised a plan to personally deliver it.

First jen garrard picked it up in baltimore - drove it meredith - who drove it to maryann - who drove it jacque.

And so on - and so on - up interstate 81 - more than 300 miles.

Sarah edwards carried the precious cargo on its last leg.

Bite sarah driving "it is very simila to driving my children home from the hospital on the first day they were born - nervousness, excitement."

Bite emily "i can' even comprehend why anybody would want to do something like this for me."

It is a legitimate question.

Bites group members "it ver quickly was not about a chair anymore."

"it ga me something that i need and i didn't know i needed."

"steve: i think a lo of people are looking for ways to connect - and looking for any excuse to connect - and if it's a fish chair, it's a fish chair.

Group member: that's right ."

Clearly, kindness can take many forms& bite group member "we're a fellowshi - a fellowship of the fish chair."

Nat emily seeing chair &but the best kind of kindness is always that random act - that somehow makes people believe again.

Bite emily partially covered "i did no need the chair - but i did need to be reminded that kindness lurks in even the weirdest little places."

All we need to do - is fish for it.

Steve hartman, on the road, in syracuse, new york.