Home Front To Battlefront: An Ohio Teenager In World War II

Carl Lavin was a high school senior in Canton, Ohio, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. In his freshman year of college, he joined the reserves, a decision that would take him with the US Army from training across the United States and Britain to combat with the 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge. Home Front to Battlefront is the tale of a foot soldier who finds himself thrust into a world where he and his unit grapple with the horrors of combat, the idiocies of bureaucracy, and the oddities of life back home—all in the same day. The book is based on Carl’s personal letters, his recollections, and those of the people he served beside, official military history, private papers, and more. This book offers insight into the wartime career of a Jewish Ohioan in the military, from enlistment to training through overseas deployment, and reflects the emotions and the role of the individual in a total war effort.