Reluctant Warriors

By Jon Stafford

The soldiers of World War II were ordinary men who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Unable to ignore their obligations to their country and to the world, these men bravely faced combat. Many of them never sought reward or accolades, but simply returned from war, forever changed and forever humbled by the tenuous balance of life and death.

Each of the men depicted here—Joseph “Chip” Wiley, Jimmy DeValery, Harry Conners, and Theodore Rodgers—had lives, families, and careers they left behind. But they were not the only ones to report for duty: their families also had to fight daily battles through hardships, through defeats, through loss.

This book recounts their stories. Men, women, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, children: all reluctant warriors, rising to incredible challenge of wars fought on every front.