It's a cold clear afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 7, 1941. Disappointed in the lack of snow, a high school senior runs inside the Shannon house to tell Mother his plans to catch a show with the guys. Across town inside the Beran house, an 8th grade girl decks the halls alongside her sister and mother for the Christmas season. Growing up during the Great Depression, these teenagers enjoy a close knit family lifestyle, hard work, and hometown values. With the afternoon news radio broadcasting in the background, the Shannons and the Berans would soon hear the same iconic hurried interruption to CBS Radio's program "The World Today." The attack at Pearl Harbor would forever alter their paths. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers the "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress the following day launching the United States into World War II. With brothers, cousins, and neighbors leaving civilian life, they would all pull together to support the war effort. In over 175 preserved letters, we follow the story of Bob, a recent recruit into the U.S. Navy as a radioman on a rugged submarine chaser, who becomes a pen pal with Jeanie, now a freshman at West View High School. Beginning to fall in love and unsure, but hopeful, of his success in courting Jeanie, Bob desires a long term relationship with Miss Beran. This book tells the story of how he does it -one letter at a time.
