Times Past, Times Remembered
When I
started to school in 1950, I already understood that many of our fathers had
gone to a war we couldn’t quite remember, and some hadn’t returned. Being
patriotic wasn’t questionable in any sense—rather, patriotism was ingrained in
us from birth.
My hometown
in West Texas had been the home of an air force base (it remains today) and a
bombardier training school (now the regional airport) where my father flew a
desk until he shipped out to California to
await the invasion of Japan
My mother
kept the newspapers from December 7, 1941, V-E Day, and V-J Day. They are full
of pictures of young men who were not so fortunate as my father. The brittle
yellow pages, crumbling now with age, are still a reminder of a generation to
whom we owe so much.
Though I
got the idea for Dancing with Velvet
from an old photo of a now-demolished hotel where people, both young and old,
danced to the music of live bands in the Roof Garden overlooking the quiet
downtown streets, there was no question the story would take place during an
era that shaped my life and those of my friends—the years known as World War
II.
Today, when
I fly in or out of the small airport, I am greeted by an oil painting
prominently displayed: two brothers, Jack and Mark Mathis. Jack received the
Medal of Honor posthumously and is buried in the local cemetery. Shortly
afterwards, Mark’s plane went down on a bombing run. His body was never
recovered.
Read their story at http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part2/05_mathis.html
It’s a long story but well worth the time.
Dancing
with Velvet is a love song to my hometown and a salute to the brave
young men who passed through it from 1942-1945.
In the waning days of the Great Depression, Celeste
Riley wonders if life will always be the same: going to work, coming home to
keep house for her widowed father who ignores her. She clings to her married
sister, Coralee, and the recurring dream of a blue velvet curtain and a
faceless lover who beckons her beyond it. Then a blue velvet dress in the window
of a local department store seems to promise the change in her life she so
desperately longs for. When she dances in the arms of traveling salesman Kent
Goddard at the Roof Garden, she is sure she has found the man of her dreams and
is crushed when he disappears from her life. Then, soon after Pearl Harbor
propels the United States
With the world at war, it’s tempting to live only for
today, because tomorrow may never come. But Celeste wants more. Read the first
chapter of this vintage romance and view the video trailer at my website.
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That's a great story, Judy, and so cool that you have the actual photo of the building as on your book cover! Thanks for being our guest today.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fascinating book. Thanks for sharing a piece of history with us.
ReplyDeleteI love that era. My last book takes place right after the war. Your book sounds absolutely fascinating and a must read. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteJusy - your book sounds intriguing - a 'must-read'. I think, with the current war overseas hopefully coming to an end, there will be a revival in interest in the social effects of the previous wars.My grandfather was MIA in WW1, and its affects on family still echo today.Thank you for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and commenting, Ladies! I was away at a writers conf and unable to follow the blog.
ReplyDelete