Remembering Sam: A Wartime Story of Love, Loss, and Redemption

A death in the family opens memories of another loss suffered years earlier, in the closing days of World War II. A letter in the mail brings a new dimension to that earlier death and unsettles an old, accepted version of events. In this tender remembrance, David Everitt recounts the story of his mother's first marriage to a man named Sam Kramer, a soldier fighting against Nazi Germany who was killed on his unit's next-to-last day of combat. Everitt begins to explore this hidden chapter in his mother's life after his father's sudden death from cardiac arrest in 1999, when memories reemerge about the first time his mother had to contend with the loss of a beloved spouse. Previously uncomfortable about examining the life of the man who preceded his father, Everitt now sees the need for completing this corner of the family portrait.

About the Author :
David Everitt's book A Shadow of Red, about communism and the blacklist in radio and television, has been widely praised. Mr. Everitt is a former magazine editor whose writings have appeared in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Biography, and American History, and he has also written King of the Half Hour. He lives in Huntington, New York.

Review :
Such tales of lives cruelly foreshortened and of survivors' destinies abruptly rearranged are common to all wars, but the particulars supplied here render this one especially affecting. The real life experience of Sam's widow is every military spouse's worst nightmare. As I read her story, the fear and sadness I felt while my husband was in Iraq welled up all over again, even though he's now safely home and I had thought I'd put it behind me. Remembering Sam is a moving reminder that while the technology of war may change, the human experience remains the same. It's also a cautionary tale-like the WWII generation sixty years ago, a lifetime of the after-effects of war still lie ahead of us. Remembering Sam is an important and poignant book about the lives of two young Americans on the home front, the frontlines, and in the war's aftermath. David Everitt sensitively and honestly raises questions about the importance of individual choices, the broader society, and luck in the lives of young people entering adulthood during a difficult time. Everitt's insights should make readers more sensitive to the issues of patriotism, loss, and loyalty that face the current generation involved in another American war. Remembering Sam is a baby boomer's family memoir about his mother's first husband who was killed in action in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest in the very last weeks of the war in Europe. Focusing on life on the Home Front it is a sensitive and realistic micro-social history based on family letters, oral histories, and standard historical materials.