From Calcutta with Love: The World War II Letters of Richard and Reva BeardTexas Tech University Press, 2002 - 352 pages The saga of China, Burma, India--World War II's forgotten theater--is as heroic as it is seldom told. CBI ground troops were charged with the Herculean task of carving a road from India to China through humid jungles where disease was as great a hazard as the Japanese, and pilots who "flew the Hump," the treacherous flight route over the Himalayas, braved violent monsoon rains, deadly wind shifts, and mountainsides that suddenly loomed from the clouds.Richard Beard, an Army psychologist assigned to the 142nd General Hospital in Calcutta, dealt daily with emotional trauma. While American and British soldiers hacked their way through dense tropical forests to build the supply route, Beard immersed himself in the internal jungles of those he treated.A pillar to the men he served, Beard was an astute listener and observer, pleased to be playing his part. But his own pillar was his wife, Reva, teaching school half a world away in Findlay, Ohio. In daily letters to Reva, he poured out not only his observations of life in India but also his own longing and passions, and the unfolding drama of war, in painfully exquisite detail tempered with tenderness and humor. Reva's return letters are filled with news of the home front and stories of her young students, but through them all courses a longing for Richard's safe return.In these letters the couple's devotion to each other in the face of separation and their willingness to see the war through to its end demonstrate once again the dedication of the World War II generation. |
Contents
The ChinaBurmaIndia Theater and My Father Richard | 9 |
1944 Leaving Home | 21 |
1945 Serving India | 121 |
1946 Return to Home Wife and Love | 253 |
Epilogue | 309 |
Richards Letter to Revas 4th Grade Class | 319 |
Notes | 321 |
Glossary | 327 |
329 | |
335 | |
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1944 My Dearest 1945 Dearest Ritter 1945 My Darling afternoon American April Army asked Assam awhile boys Burma Burma Road Calcutta Capt CBI theater Chiang Kai-shek China China-Burma-India Christmas club course dinner dreams drink Ellen feel Findlay folks girl Goodnight guess hope hospital hour husband India Japanese Kanchrapara Kenny Bayless kisses Kunming last night Ledo Road letters Lieutenant look Love and kisses Merrill's Marauders Miss months morning mother movie Myitkyina nice noon nurses officer Ohio packages played poker pretty rain Reva's Richard and Reva Richard Beard rupees Ruth September ship sleep soldiers soon stay Stilwell sure sweet sweetheart talk tell things thought tion told tomorrow tonight took trip U.S. Army V-E day waiting ward week wife World World War II writing wrote
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