Yes, I know that today marks the anniversary of the beginning of the War of the Roses, the military contest between the Houses of York and Lancaster in 1455-1287. But I don't want to write about that. Besides, I'm not an Anglophile; my preferred subject matter involves U.S. history, particularly that of the South. And since this is my blog, I'll write what I want! And what I want to write about is a family that was divided and had been for many years. I want to write about two brothers in...

It often takes some people longer than others to "find themselves," to find something they can do well and that they enjoy enough to make it their career. Some people know from an early age what they're cut out to be and do. Others struggle for a while, trying first this and then that until they find their calling. I had a college roommate who knew from his first day as a freshman what his calling was, and he never wavered from it once. In fact, he died a few years ago, still doing that one...

I have just finished reading a book that I can highly recommend to anyone interested in delving into the inner workings of the officer corps of the U.S. Army in Western Europe during World War II. It is titled Contents of a WWII Footlocker: A Memoir of the U.S. Army Third Armored Division by Edith Nadine Brackman. The book is predominantly composed of the many letters written by Brackman's father, Oliver William Brackman Jr., to his parents and sister just before and throughout the war. It...