Daddy’s War

"Daddy's War: Maurice Eugene Wescott's Years in the United States Navy, 1942–1945" is a personal, historical, and powerful memoir that will resonate with all who have a familial connection with World War II or an appreciation of history.

Written by Eugene's daughter, F. Maure Albert, the heart of this book is in the telling, tender manner in which she tells the solidly researched story of her father's years at war. For over five decades she observes, eavesdrops, and later notes conversations that filled her childhood, never grasping the full picture of what he went through. Her requests of him to tell her more are repeatedly met with stern silence until one day, at eighty years old, Maurice Wescott relents. "Get a pencil," he said. "I will tell you one time." What follows is a poignant record of a man who grew up during the Great Depression, whose working life began at age nine and who spent the next decades serving his family and country. This Greatest Generation account reminds us of a time when a family's welfare took precedence over an individual's, even a child's. When a stranger volunteers a moving tribute at Maurice's funeral, the author finds new depths of understanding as she realizes her father had won his war. Peace was finally his.

F. Maure Albert is a retired high school English teacher, researcher, and lover of history. Raised on a cattle ranch in the American West, she learned to value family connections and hard work. She has been married to Larry R. Albert for more than fifty years. They are the parents of six, grandparents of nineteen, and great-grandparents of one—and counting.