Thursday, August 20, 2009

A Child of the Greatest Generation

We all reach an age where we have more to look back on than forward to!
A message from Bill Adler, in birthday cards, to his three brothers

Reflections-of my Youth grew from that revelation. It is the product of my "post retirement" efforts to continue to remain productive. Here is an autobiographical series of short stories, in many cases accompanied by pictures of the time, about growing up during and following the Second World War.

Born in a small town in the hills of West Virginia, in the middle of the great depression, I am a child of what author and former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw calls The Greatest Generation, those men and women who served our country on the home front, as well as on the battlefields, during World War II.

Should you choose to join me and travel back in time by reading my stories, be prepared to also travel back in your own life, revisiting stories of your own youth.

Regardless of your age, 79, 59, 39, or 19, I assure you it will be a wondrous journey. Through these stories your travels will bring a flood of personal memories; hopefully most of them of the pleasant variety.

Over the next months, and g-d willing, years, I will be posting stories of a little boy who became a growing and curious kid, morphing into an adolescent, growing into and surviving the confusion of puberty, and maturing toward manhood...tales of the first 17 1/2 years of my life.

The stories will not be sequential, but rather random, as a memory prompts me to write and post.

The goal is to ultimately stitch these stories into Chapters with titles like:
  • Stories I never told my mother (or my father),
  • How I helped win the war,
  • A white minority kid in a southern town,
  • A funny thing happened on my way to maturity
...leading to a book, should I discover through blogging, there is enough interest out there in reading such a publication.

And, if the initial endeavor is successful, the next logical sequel would be reflections-of YOUR Youth--stories readers, like you, share with me.

You are invited to share your thoughts, your comments and if so inclined, your stories by posting your comments or emailing me at billsreflections@gmail.com.

Please join me in what could be a Wondrous Adventure.

All material produced by W. Jay Adler on this blog are subject to International Copyright laws.

3 comments:

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  2. I love it! Great idea! There can never be enough stories out there to tell people like me of our history and past and all the different places we came from. What was going on in the US during WWII?! I never knew. I have grown up listening to and re-living the atrocities that happened overseas from 1st hand accounts from my grandparents....but what was going on on this side of the world while hell was breaking loose over there!? Now I can have stories from both sides of my family. Thank you!!!

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  3. Alyse,

    I'm glad you enjoyed the WW II story. There are more coming. Keep an eye on my blog.

    Bill

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