Taking license with setting: France becomes Luxembourg

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Though I wanted to go to Europe to follow in the footsteps of Sergeant Bud Richardville, the pandemic made travel impossible.

When I first accepted the responsibility for telling the story of Sergeant Bud Richardville and his work in the Graves Registration Service during World War II, I intended to follow his footsteps, beginning with the area north of London where he was stationed in a castle as the Allied forces prepared for D-Day. I wanted to walk the beaches of Normandy and the forests of the Ardennes where the Battle of the Bulge was waged. And I wanted to visit the American Cemetery in Épinal France where Bud was laid to rest following his strange death near the end of the war.

But as I was considering my plans, a worldwide disruption occurred. The Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down and all of us in, leaving travel out of the question.

I have never written a book without studying the locations involved firsthand, an effort to capture the sights and sounds and smells of a story, so my initial thought was to put off writing the book until a later date. But as the lockdown dragged on, Bud’s story lured me in, almost demanding to be told.

So…I began writing, but every time I needed what I call “color”—meaning what Bud might have seen and sensed—I had to pause, because I had no notes reminding me of the color of the landscape or the smells in the air or the feel of crossing the English Channel.

Then, after a long period of frustration, I realized that I already had memories that would work in the telling of Bud’s story, recollections of my time living in the tiny country of Luxembourg. I was attending Miami University in Oxford Ohio when, near the end of my sophomore year, I passed a table in the student center. Glossy photos of castles, and rivers, and and rolling green hillsides were displayed, advertising the school’s small branch campus in Luxembourg. I was entranced!

Luxembourg is one of the most beautiful countries in Europe, and though I originally had no factual evidence that Sergeant Bud Richardville was deployed there, I made the country the backdrop for some of the scenes in my World War II historical novel Your Forgotten Sons.

I would spend six months living and studying in that small country, where in one day you could board a train for breakfast in France, have dinner in Belgium, then late-night drinks in Germany. The more I thought about my travels from my base in Luxembourg, the more I realized that I had perhaps already overlapped Bud’s trail.

Note that Bud’s military records were destroyed along with those of 80% of Army servicemen and women who were discharged between 1912 and 1960 in a fire in St. Louis in 1973, so the only way I was able to track him was through the postmarks on the fragile letters that were saved by his family and entrusted to me. Those stamps showed that Bud was most likely in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Czechoslovakia.

Still, it made sense that Bud might have also been in Luxembourg, since the Luxembourg American Cemetery—built by the GRS and today holding over 5,000 American war dead—is located just outside the capital city. And so, though I had no physical evidence that Bud was actually in Luxembourg, I placed him there.

Then, just as the book was going to press, Gina—Bud’s niece and the driving force behind the book—sent me an obituary about Bud that had appeared in his hometown newspaper. It read, “He landed in France on D-Day and was with Hodge’s First Army as a member of the 606th Graves Registration Company. Action took him from France to Luxembourg, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Germany.” And there it was. Proof that Bud had been in Luxembourg.

Your Forgotten Sons will be launched June 6, 2024 in honor of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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Finding Bud: Following a damaged trail

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When my dear friend Gina Liparoto asked me to tell the story of her uncle “Bud” Richardville, a soldier who served in the Graves Registration Service in World War II, I didn’t realize the difficulties I would face in ferreting out who Bud was and what had happened to him.

The years leading up to Bud’s service in the U.S. Army, as well as his marrige to the enigmatic Lorraine, were pieced together in part thanks to the memories of surviving family members. Gina, who grew up hearing stories about her mother’s rakish older brother, contributed accounts of Bud’s poverty-stricken youth in Vincennes Indiana, where the Great Depression had yet to retract it’s spidery reach.

Gina also provided me with a packet of letters that Bud had written to relatives and which had been lovingly protected over the years, writings that helped me glimpse the man who never came home.

The big problem came when I tried to track Bud’s trail through the carnage of World War II. My first thought was to locate Bud’s military records, but I soon discovered that in 1973 a massive fire raged through the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, destroying approximately 17 million official military personnel files. The records for servicemen and women who had been discharged between 1912 and 1960 were wiped away, the flames consuming 80% of the Army’s archives.

My only option for discovering where Bud’s service took him was through the postmarks on his fragile letters, which listed the dates and locations from which the mail was sent. While the process was probably not exact, I was able to confidently follow Bud through his induction at Camp Warren in Wyoming, his posting outside of London as he and the other Allied troops waited for D-Day, and the horrors of the landing at Normandy. Though censors forbade the discussion of anything war-related in letters home, those postmarks indicated that Bud was most likely at the Battle of the Bulge, at multiple locations throughout France and Germany, and with General George Patton on his charge to liberate Czechoslovakia from the Nazis.

During my research, I could find almost nothing written about those who served alongside Bud in the GRS, where men were tasked with locating, identifying and burying the dead, their efforts—with the exception of the elegant cemeteries they left behind—seemingly ignored by history. Then, I discovered the eyewitness account of Lt. Col. Joseph James Shomon, who, as a captain, served two years in the GRS in the European Theater and wrote about his experiences in the book Crosses in the Wind. I will be forever grateful for Shomon’s memories which allowed me to see those in the GRS clearly. Ultimately, I took literary license with some of the situations in which I placed Bud and his men by utilizing the events Shomon shared.

Though Your Forgotten Sons tells the story of Bud Richardville, it is my hope that readers will remember all those who toiled in the GRS, soldiers who worked tirelessly to gave the fallen the respect and honor they deserved as they were gently laid to rest.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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Allotment Annies: Polygamist wives of war

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Was Bud Richardville’s wife an Allotment Annie? It’s quite possible that she was.

During World War II, American servicemen were confronted by many dangers on foreign soil, but they were also at the mercy of some homegrown risks: women who spent their time enticing men to marry them. These women seduced young servicemen—many of whom were naïve and away from home for the first time—into whirlwind marriages, just as they were about to ship out.

It would be discovered later that some of these women, who would be dubbed Allotment Annies, were married to multiple servicemen at the same time. Elvira Taylor is one of the few women to be prosecuted for what was essentially polygamy, after she was found to be married to six sailors at the same time. Taylor might have gotten away with her crime had two of those men not reportedly met in an Australian pub. There they did what men in love do. They took out photos of their wives, and were shocked to discover that they were married to the same woman.

But why would women marry multiple men during a war? The answer is simple: money! Wives of servicemen were issued a weekly allotment of $20, which doesn’t sound like much today, but back in 1945 was equivalent to almost $340. Multiply that by four and Elvira was pulling in $1360 a month. When you consider that the median income in the U.S. at that time was just $1,400 annually, you can see why women were tempted to game the system. On top of the weekly stipend, wives were entitled to a one-time death benefit of $10,000, which works out to about $170,000 today.

I’m now patting myself on the back for doing a little math—not my best subject—but the numbers are important in regard to Allotment Annies, women I will now defend, if only a little. High-paying job opportunities were practically nonexistent for women at that time. Though they toiled in factories and in other sectors for the war effort, I’m sure many realized that when the boys came home, their time in the workforce would end. They’d had a taste of earning and managing their own money, and no doubt many chaffed at going back to being dependent on men for an income.

We will never know just how many women married servicemen for the paychecks and death benefits, but the issue was well-known to the military which produced videos warning men about the practice. Even Hollywood got into the act with the 1945 film noir release of Allotment Wives, a story about an Army investigator who tries to stop a woman from preying on unsuspecting soldiers.

I mention Allotment Annies because over the course of my research for my World War II historical novel Your Forgotten Sons, I became convinced that I’d found one. The book, inspired by a true story, traces the path of Sergeant Bud Richardville who was inducted into the Army in 1943 as the United States prepared for the invasion of Europe. He met a woman named Lorraine—at least that’s what she told him—and they were quickly married before he deployed.

The marriage would cause Bud great pain and confusion, and it wouldn’t be until years later, long after both Bud and Lorraine were dead, that questions about the union were broached. Had Bud married an Allotment Annie? And why is it that records indicated there was never a marriage, even though Lorraine received and cashed his allotment checks? Bud writes about his “wife” constantly in his letters. Clearly he believed he was married to Lorraine, but so apparently were two other men. Whether these marriages overlapped is unclear, but in those days divorce was practically unheard of, so multiple marriages would certainly have been looked upon with suspicion.

One wonders about the mindset of the women who duped unsuspecting servicemen into marriage as they headed off to war. Were they desperate, greedy, or just cruel? It’s unlikely we will ever know.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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Writing historical fiction can be tricky

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I almost got tripped up a few times, when writing about World War II Jeeps.

My new book, Your Forgotten Sons, is a work of historical fiction, a story inspired by Sergeant Joseph “Bud” Richardville who worked in the Graves Registration Service in Europe during World War II.

As many authors know, writing about the past can be tricky. One reason is we tend to look at history through our own modern-day lens. For example, when I was writing about Bud, I often had him riding in a Jeep. Today, Jeeps are ubiquitous on civilian roadways, but the origins of the vehicle are steeped in war.

Scripps Howard WWII reporter Ernie Pyle once said of the Jeep, “It did everything. It went everywhere. Was as faithful as a dog, as strong as a mule, and as agile as a goat. It constantly carried twice what it was designed for and still kept going.”

No doubt current Jeep owners prize the vehicle for many of the same attributes. The problem comes when one sees a Jeep and misses the evolution that led to today’s version. When I first wrote Your Forgotten Sons, I had Bud starting a Jeep with keys and adjusting the rearview mirror. Oops! Jeeps back then started with a pushbutton and the vehicles had no review mirrors.

I also had Bud and his fellow soldiers eating K-rations, but I would learn that he and his peers actually consumed C-rations. What’s the difference? K-rations were heavy, having been designed for static warfare, like the trench battles of World War I. But World War II was a different type of war, with fast-moving trucks and tanks and parachute troops who needed lighter combat rations, because soldiers were constantly on the move.

When I first envisioned Bud, I saw him in a green T-shirt, the iconic color of the Army. Today, Army personnel wear undershirts defined as Tan 499 which has a slight green tint to it, a shade referred to as “coyote”. But in Bud’s time, the plain, white cotton T-shirt was what all male service members sported.

When writing about the World War II era, I had to pay close attention to the facts. Luckily, the time is well documented with videos, and photographs, and eye-witness accounts. But consider writing about periods that go way back in history. My novel Wolf Catcher takes place in both modern times and the 11th century in what would become Arizona. I once wrote a scene where Native people used honey to sweeten their food, which could never have happened, because it was not until the early 1600s that European settlers first brought honey bees to the Americas.

It’s clear, then, that when authors choose to write stories based on history, they need to be meticulous in their research.

I’m working on it.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Loryane, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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Who was Bud Richardville?

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In 1943, Sergeant Bud Richardville left a new wife and headed off to World War II to serve in the Graves Registration Service. But he never came back and questions about his death lingered for 75 years.

Joseph “Bud” Richardville was not very different from the millions of other young men who served in the U.S. military in World War II. He came from rural Indiana, where his family lived in poverty, a hangover from the Great Depression. He knew little about the world outside of Vincennes, but as the inevitability of the coming conflict became clear, Bud moved to Michigan to work in the paper mills, an industry that was essential to the war effort and which kept him stateside until he was drafted in 1943.

When Bud boarded the train for Camp Warren, Wyoming that summer, he was 29 and found himself riding with other soon-to-be soldiers who were mostly kids, many still in their teens, some excited to be away from home for the first time, others quiet, perhaps fearing what was to come.

Once at bootcamp, Bud was assigned to the Graves Registration Service. Family stories indicate that when Bud was young he’d periodically been called upon to help remove the corpses of those who’d fallen from the trains that trundled through his neighborhood, travelers who’d jumped aboard, hoping for a free ride, but who’d slipped and fallen to their deaths. Perhaps he’d mentioned this fact during his induction at Camp Warren and that familiarity with the dead colored the decision to place him in a GRS. Bud would serve in the 606 Graves Registration Company where he and his brethren were tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead.

Sgt. Bud Richardville died just after the German’s surrendered in 1945. He lies in the American Cemetery in Épinal, France.

Think about that for a moment, and consider that the gathering of war dead is an undertaking that seems to have been erased from history. Consider all of those war movies where soldiers are mowed down on the beaches of Normandy or are mortally wounded on foreign battlefields, young men, some blown to pieces. But once their deaths are confirmed, the camera moves forward, ignoring the carnage.

It was left to those in the Graves Registration Service to gather up the horrific aftermath of battle in the hope of making some order out of all that death. They did their utmost to retrieve and identify the fallen and design and build the cemeteries that would hold their remains. Today, about 130,000 American war dead are said to be buried on foreign soil, men and women who were laid to rest with the reverence they deserved, because of the dedication of those in the GRS.

The efforts of Bud and his men additionally served another vital purpose: morale. As wave after wave of soldiers hit those Normandy beaches, the dead had to be collected quickly, so as not to traumatize the incoming troops. It is not hyperbole to say that the job of those in the GRS is perhaps one of the most difficult and least appreciated in the history of military service. And it is easy to understand the torment many of these soldiers, including Bud, faced for the rest of their lives.

It is ironic, perhaps, that Bud’s final resting place would be in the American Cemetery in Épinal, France, where he was buried by his brothers who also served in the GRS.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

NextChapter Publishing

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A surgery turns into a search for the truth

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My dear friend Gina Liparato told me about her Uncle Bud who served in World War II and never came home; a man who worked in the Graves Registration Service in Europe and whose strange death puzzled her for decades.

Baltimore, 2019

I’d traveled to Baltimore at the request of a dear friend. She was facing a delicate, possibly life-changing surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and asked that I stand in as her healthcare power of attorney.

The night before the operation, Gina, handed me a Ziplock bag. Inside I found a packet of yellowed letters. We’d spoken of Gina’s elusive uncle—her mother’s handsome, rakish brother—on occasion over the years, and of the odd circumstances surrounding his death near the end of World War II.

“No matter what happens to me, I want you to tell Bud’s story,” she said.

I nodded and promised that I would.

The next day, my friend of over three decades tried to comfort me and her soldier husband: three tours, two in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, a navy-blue sweatshirt boasting an Airborne patch, a bracelet saying Remember The Fallen encircling his wrist. Gina’s husband would soon disappear, leaving her in my care, because the hospital and its patients gnawed at his belly, a reminder of dead and dying soldiers he’d been unable to help in another hospital in Iraq.

I kissed Gina goodbye, told her I loved her, and left her alone with her husband.

Hours later, I sat bedside, staring at my friend who looked small and fragile beneath a thin hospital blanket.

“I want to bring him home.” Her eyes were still glassy from the anesthesia.

“Who?” I gazed at Gina, her face etched with pain. The drugs weren’t helping.

“And I want to know what happened?” She winced and closed her eyes.

“Do you want me to call the nurse?”

“No. Bud…” her voice trailed off.

“It’s been a long time, Gina. And we don’t have much to go on.”  I recalled the night before when she’d extracted those fragile letters with almost religious reverence. The epistles were small squares, etched with tight, black script. I’d made the promise in haste, hoping to make Gina feel better, and now wondered if I could keep my word.

She opened her eyes and squirmed, trying to find a comfortable position, but was under doctor’s orders not to move.

“Stay still! Water?” I reached for a plastic cup with a bent white straw, in an effort to do something.

Gina shook her head and stared out the window. I followed her gaze and focused on the clear blue sky and showy fall foliage, brilliant orange and yellow leaves basking in bright sunshine. I searched for something to say. I’d always been the one who, faced with a problem, could tackle a job and get it done, a hangover perhaps from my previous life as a reporter. But how was I to determine what happened to a man who died mysteriously all those years ago?

“I will have some water.”

I reached for the cup and guided the straw between Gina’s chapped lips. When she was done, I placed it back on the stainless-steel tray next to the bed. Then, she closed her eyes and let out a ragged breath.

I hated feeling helpless. Without thinking, I blurted out, “Let’s go get Bud!”

“Really?” She brightened instantly, a glimpse of the Gina I knew before the surgery.

I nodded. “When you’re better.”

And so, we agreed to travel to France, to the graveyard in Épinal where Sergeant Joseph “Bud” Richardville had lain since his death in 1945. Even if Gina spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair, we’d go to France and find out what happened.

But then Covid hit and our plans were derailed. Still, as Gina healed, we invesitgated Bud’s story, utilizing the resources we had. And, when we were done, we finally knew what happened to Bud Richardville. Your Forgotten Sons, which will be realesed on June 6, 2024 in honor of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, tells his story.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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Remember when they told us sports were good for us? They lied!

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I bet your think sport officials are generally safe from harm, but think again. Sometimes players run right over us.

I spent most of my life involved with sports. I started ice skating at five and skiing at eight. I don’t remember learning to swim, but I spent 35 years in lap pools. I was an amateur sports official for four decades, a time during which I called football, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, and basketball games. I’ve ridden horses and hiked the backcountry. I’ve lifted weights and practiced yoga. I’m a scuba diver.

I mention my forays in the sports world, because I feel I’ve been led astray. Remember when they told us sports were good for us? Well, I’m pretty sure they lied.

How do I know? Rotator cuff surgery: twice. A decade of shots filled with gelatinous goo that was routinely inserted into my knees. A compression fracture in my spine. A broken leg. Two fractured arms. Horrendous bruises that had people staring. One woman actually approached me and pointed at my banged-up leg.

“I was hit by a line drive in a baseball game,” I explained.

I’d rather be run over by football players than be hit by a baseball. They hurt!

“You don’t have to lie, honey.” She shook her head. “We’ll get the bastard!”

“No, really. It was a baseball. See the seams?”

The point is, those of us who climbed on the sports wagon believed we would be healthy and happy for all that effort. But even something as seemingly benign as swimming can leave proverbial scars. All that repetitive motion eventually has painful results.

And still, doctors say exercise and sports are good for us. The Web.MD article “Exercise: What’s In It For You?” says, all that sweat and effort can improve our mood, give us more energy, make us more productive, improve our quality of sleep, give us strong bones and muscles, lower our risk of cancer, give us healthy hearts, help control our weight, lead to longer lives, and ease arthritis pain.

At this point, scuba diving is the only sport that hasn’t hurt me much. Then again, I stopped carrying my tanks years ago.

I have to say here that the last one made me laugh, since my aching joints are a direct result of, you guessed it, sports and exercise.

Sometimes, when I’m having a particular sore day, I think back to the times I pushed myself too hard or failed to get out of the way. Back then my choices seemed reasonable. But today all of my painful parts put those decisions in a different light.

There’s nothing much I can do about my damaged joints and muscles and that collection of X-rays, MRIs, and scars, but I did finally admit to myself that given the opportunity and a time-travel capsule, I’d probably do it all again.

Not sure what that says about me, but there you have it.

Coming soon!

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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5 Stars for Your Forgotten Sons

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To those of you who are NetGalley fans, I’m happy to announce that my new World War II historical fiction novel, Your Forgotten Sons, is now available on the site. And I’m thrilled that the first 5-Star review has posted. Find excerpts below.

“This was a riveting, quick read that focuses on the true experiences of one man, Bud Richardville of Indiana…Bud’s unit is mobile, following the advances of the front-line troops. They land in Normandy only 8 hours after the first assault, to begin their grim duty of collecting, identifying, and burying the dead…This book is well worth reading, not only because it highlights areas of WW II not usually covered but also because it shines a spotlight on the need for mental healthcare for veterans of all wars. I highly recommend this book to all historical fiction lovers.”

You can read the rest of the review here. My thanks to NetGalley’s Lisa Gentry for being the first to review Your Forgotten Sons. If you’d like to become a NetGalley reviewer, go to https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/327844.

Coming soon!

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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Anne Montgomery’s novels can be found wherever books are sold.

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On being a biohazard

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When I got Covid and subsequently broke my leg a few years back, I was labled a biohazard.

Covid hit me hard in 2021. Hallucinations haunted me, especially the one where I was being attacked by words, which, à la Serena Williams, I batted away. But the more I repelled those words, the faster they came at me. The experience was akin to being inside a video game.

Later, I passed out and awoke with a severely broken leg, one that had to be surgically repaired and which kept me hobbling around for about eight months. I mention this because when I was hospitalized the fact that I still had Covid was problematic. The sign outside my room said Biohazard in big letters, underneath of which was my name, as well as those of the other Covid patients on the floor.

As a former sports official, an avocation I practiced for forty years, I’d been called a lot of unpleasant things, still Biohazard was a something new and rather sinister sounding. The medical staff coming in and out of my room in coveralls, hoods, and goggles lent an ominous tone, so as you can imagine I was happy when they released me to recover from the virus and wait for surgery at home.

Recently, I dealt with a similar issue. I have what is disturbingly called a degenerative spine, the result of too many falls and hits and lots of repetitive motion. So, my surgeon sent me off to the imaging people, where a nice lady stuck a needle in my arm and deposited a bit of radioactive material into my bloodstream. If the idea is making you squeamish, note that I was a bit queasy about the idea as well.

“Will I glow?” I asked the technician.

 She smiled. “Maybe some sparkles.”

I waited several hours for the radioactive stuff to do its job, then I had to stay completely still for about a half an hour. The scanning machines hummed quietly, as they rolled over and around me. It wasn’t unpleasant, though my nose itched and I wasn’t allowed to scratch it. Still, in the grand scheme it was pretty painless.

When it was over, I asked if I could see the results and what I saw was strangely beautiful. My spine was lit up in purple and turquoise and a bright yellow patch burst from my cervical spine.

“That’s the bad part,” I said pointing at the stary spot.

“I can see that,” she said.

The scans will go to the neurosurgeon, who will decipher all that light and decided how to fix me. I tried to understand what he might see, but like many body scans there was a Rorschach-test quality to the pictures that I couldn’t decode.

I thanked the woman for her help, and before I left she said, “Don’t hold any babies for a few hours. And don’t sit next to any pregnant women.”

I squinted.

“And you probably shouldn’t go to the airport. TSA might stop you.”

“I’m leaking radiation?”

She smiled.

Biohazard indeed.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Release Date: June 6, 2024

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The news is making me choose

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I learned in the news that my hot tea might kill me, but I won’t give it up.

Since I’m a former reporter, the fact that I read the newspaper daily and watch the news on TV should not come as much of a surprise. However, I’m at a point where I’m not sure how much more I can take.

Not too long ago, I read an article telling me that drinking hot tea could cause esophageal cancer. Since I am as dedicated to my daily pot of tea—brewed the old-fashioned way with tea leaves—as any hardcore coffee drinker is to their beverage of choice, the story freaked me out.

The idea put forth was that really hot beverages could alter the nature of the cells in the throat and leave them susceptible to changes that might be a precursor to cancer. The article pointed out that the World Health Organization recommends not drinking anything hotter than 149 degrees, which had me staring at my pretty, eggshell-thin teacup—No, I don’t drink from a mug. I am not a barbarian!— where luscious steam was rising into the air. I put the cup on the saucer to cool. But, later, the tea just didn’t taste right.

It was suggested that I insert a meat thermometer into my tea, but, geez, that would ruin the whole gentility vibe, don’t you think? And the big thermometer would just fall out of my dainty little cup. I considered giving up my non-alcoholic beverage of choice, but the loss of the ceremony itself would just be too depressing

And now, there’s a new horror we must face. It turns out that  picking one’s nose can cause Alzheimer’s. According the National Institutes of Health, “(W)e suggest that nose-picking increases the transfer of pathogenic microorganisms from the hand into the nose changing the nasal microbiome from a symbiotic to a pathogenic type, with possible consequences of a chronic low-level brain infection via the olfactory system…”

And that, they say, can lead to both dementia and Alzheimer’s. Now, I’m not the least bit worried, because I have never, EVER, engaged in that kind of excavation. I’m just sharing the scary news in case you have.

I’m not sure how many more of these stories I can take. I still feel uncomfortable when standing before the deli counter, ordering turkey and ham and bacon. I’m guessing you might already know that the processes used to make our yummy lunch and breakfast meats create cancer-causing substances. And yet there I am pointing out those coldcuts to the guy behind the counter, then hiding the packages beneath all the healthy fruits and vegetables in my cart, lest some know-it-all stare at me with derision.

I’m guessing stories like this will continue to appear, still I must be honest. There are certain things I can’t do without: chocolate, tea, cheese, wine, and bread. So with the idea that something’s going to kill me, I’ll leave it at that.

Bon appétit!

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Release Date: June 6, 2024

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to the Graves Registration Service where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

Pre-Order your copy today

Amazon

Apple Books

Barnes & Nobel

Google Books

Kobo

Anne Montgomery’s novels can be found wherever books are sold.

Goodreads

Amazon