It was a time when many young men were leaving home for the very first time, and the journeys they embarked on were experienced by relatives and friends through letters sent home. With This You Have the Works is a chronicle of Gordon Lee Stuart’s days as a raw recruit, being sent to various training centers in the United States, and as a mature U.S. Army airman abroad. For three and a half years, Stuart penned over one-hundred and fifty letters to his mother in what stands today as a time capsule of thoughts, experiences and feelings about daily life, relationships, and finding the girl of his dreams. Stuart’s letters mark the passage of history and provide a personal perspective on an tumultuous era where the only thing a person could count on was change.
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14 May 1945 Next week I guess I'll have to take a little sight seeing trip over the continent at low altitude. I was supposed to have gone today but they didn't get the plane ready in time. I guess it's just as well because we've got a long trip ahead of us tomorrow. From what I understand, they want all of the American soldiers in England to fly over the continent to see the mess and then they urge you to write home about it.
About Debra Stuart Smalley
Debra Stuart Smalley is the middle daughter of Gordon Lee Stuart and Jeanne Frances Breedlove. She is a Registered Nurse and Certified Nurse Midwife. She has two sons and lives in Lakeside, Arizona.
It was a time when many young men were leaving home for the very first time, and the journeys they embarked on were experienced by relatives and friends through letters sent home. With This You Have the Works is a chronicle of Gordon Lee Stuart’s days as a raw recruit, being sent to various training centers in the United States, and as a mature U.S. Army airman abroad. For three and a half years, Stuart penned over one-hundred and fifty letters to his mother in what stands today as a time capsule of thoughts, experiences and feelings about daily life, relationships, and finding the girl of his dreams. Stuart’s letters mark the passage of history and provide a personal perspective on an tumultuous era where the only thing a person could count on was change.
Debra Stuart Smalley is the middle daughter of Gordon Lee Stuart and Jeanne Frances Breedlove. She is a Registered Nurse and Certified Nurse Midwife. She has two sons and lives in Lakeside, Arizona.