Like so many others who served in World Wa r II\, Leon Granacki was an ordinary guy from a working-class immigrant fa mily drafted into the U.S. Army and thrust into the horrors of war in the South Pacific. But through sheer luck and pluck\, he leveraged his art tal ents to survive and thrive\, catapulting himself from private infantryman to master sergeant and mapmaker for General MacArthur in the Americal Divi sion&rsquo\;s Intelligence section. In this richly illustrated book\, Leon &rsquo\;s story unfolds through original hand-drawn pen and ink maps\, jun gle watercolors\, journal illustrations\, scrapbook photos\, and heartfelt letters home to &ldquo\;Dear Gang&rdquo\; &mdash\; his extended Polish Am erican family crowded together in a Chicago apartment building.
\nAm ong the collection of 200 letters that the book quotes from are excerpts o f 18 letters written in Polish&mdash\;personal letters to his beloved pare nts that reveal tenderness and longing. He reassures them he'll be safe\, even as war rages around him. He yearns for family\, shared holidays back home\, fishing\, and a woman to love. These letters remind us of the human cost of war through a soldier&rsquo\;s heartache.
\nVictoria states \, &ldquo\;My father left an incredible written and visual collection of h is wartime experiences that his family lovingly saved for him until he ret urned safely home. As his daughter and an art collector\, architectural hi storian\, and archivist myself\, I felt responsible to preserve the collec tion and present some of its highlights to a wider audience.&rdquo\;
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