What was it really like to be an 18 year old US soldier in Europe during World War II, the first time away from family?The letters in the box survived mostly intact for 70 years, revealing the story of a young man, no different than millions of others, who traveled thousands of miles from home, and risked his life to help re-establish peace.The book details my father's ability to remain close to his family during the most tumultuous time in modern history, World War II. It is an insight into a man I knew to be very perceptive, but private and quiet, who seldom spoke about the war.This is the wartime journey of Robert "Bob" Glover who enlisted into the U.S. Army, a few months after D-Day. The story is written in his own words, in hundreds of letters to his family during 1944, 1945, and 1946. The letters are a "6-feet above the ground" view of World War II, not an historian's sterile look in the rear view mirror. This is a soldier's unique perspective on the war, the issues affecting his morale, and the activities to rebuild Europe during the "Army of the Occupation" period.Most of all, this is the story of one young man's efforts to stay connected to his family during a prolonged absence, and in the process, to completely rethink everything he had known and wanted, and how he gained a better understanding of the things that really mattered in his life.The letters sat untouched in the box for many years. As I read them for the first time ... I heard my dad's voice, a man known for his simple and straightforward philosophy of life, whisper, "better late than never."