New book uses letters from Europe to tell story of WWII

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BY ANTHONY RIZZO

A Michigan author is using letters her father wrote to loved ones to tell his story of being a soldier in Europe during World War II.

She’ll be making a stop in Houghton Lake to discuss her new book next week.

Teresa Irish, the author of A Thousand Letters Home: One WWII’s Soldier’s Story of War, Love and Life, will talk about her book at the Houghton Lake Public Library next Monday.

Irish’s book is filled with 320 letters and 104 photographs that her father sent home from November 1942 to December 1945.

Irish said it’s a unique perspective to read her father’s letters and see pictures from the time he entered the war to the time he left.

“His letters and his thoughts and his experiences really mirrored those of the 16.1 million Americans that went through WW2. So, very quickly did I realize how the letters resonated with other people who wanted to fill in the gap with their grandpas or dads. And I’m just really honored how it’s been received, both the presentation and the book,” Irish said.

Irish found her father’s letters shortly after he passed away in 2006 from cancer. She said her father never told her or her nine siblings about the letters.