11/04/2024
Even if one side "wins" in war, so many people lose. As Veterans Day approaches, I honor my mother and her first love and fiancรฉ, who was lost a few months before the end of WWII. This book is what remains of their romance, and has been recognized in the National D-Day Museum (later renamed the National WWII Museum), as a PBS donor gift, in the aircraft carrier Intrepid Museum, and on national radio.
I want to remember my mother and the book she wrote and edited about her first love and fiancรฉ, Sidney Diamond, who was killed in action near the end of World War II. I would love for you to read this book, enjoying the heartfelt, brilliant, moving, and humorous letters of their youthful romance.
You can get it here:
http://smpl.ro/an-alcove-in-the-heart ($6.95 epub / kpf / or PDF ebook)
http://smpl.ro/an-alcove-in-the-heart-printed ($17.95 paperback book)
You can also get it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Alcove-Heart-letters-Diamond-Estelle/dp/061547263X/ref=sr_1_1
The book, available as an ebook or in paperback format, contains many inspiring letters from the 525 letters Sid wrote to my mother, Estelle Spero. A few of her letters are also included, although the great majority were lost during the WWII campaign in the Pacific as he traveled between those islands. In the book, she also added commentary and narrative to convey the nature of their communication and relationship during the war.
The book was used by National Public Radio for two years as a reward for donations; was promoted by Andrew Carroll, the editor of best-seller ๐๐ข๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด; the letters were (and may still be) featured in the National WWII Museum; and one of the letters features in large print on a wall of the Intrepid Museum in New York City harbor. The collected original letters are in archive and visible on request in the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
My mother, Estelle Spero Lynch, had a good life, but (as for many) there were periods of loss and difficulty as well. Her first love and romance started early, as a young teen. The feelings between Sidney Diamond and her were deep, as she later described to me.
When the United States entered World War II, she was very upset that Sid volunteered for a dangerous job, as part of a reconnaisance corps. They were already engaged to be married.
I grew up aware of a box of photos; included there were some my own father (my parents divorced in 1960). Other photos were of a young man who I learned was named Sidney Diamond. My mother only mentioned him a few times to me, until she felt the time had arrived to share with the world their story and memories of their love.
My mother's other love, whom she married in 1964, was my step-father Louis Lynch. With his typical kindness, he supported my mother's three years of dedicated work producing this book.
David B. Alexander
https://www.InsightAndEnergy.com
