Goodreads Reviews: Mollie's War

 

Mollie's War: The Letters of a World War II WAC in Europe by Mollie Weinstein Schaffer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had wanted to find some good reading material about the women who served in WWII. The fascination of the women who worked as codebreakers and spies has captured the world's attention; the proof being found in the numerous amount of inspired fiction that has been written in the last several years. And of course, the indispensable duty as nurses who went across seas and faced just as much danger as the men they cared for. However, I was interested in the actual military volunteer services for the Army as WACs (Women's Auxiliary Corps), the Navy as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and the Air Force as WASPs (Women Air Force Service Pilots).

I was shocked at little I was able to find about the women's military services, but Mollie's War was exactly the historical reading I've been wanting. Mollie Weinstein, a medical stenographer from Detroit Michigan, volunteered for the WACs in October of 1943. Through her carefully preserved letters to her family and friends, Mollie documents her entire war experience from basic training in Daytona Beach Florida to assisting in allied occupied Germany at the end of the war.

Journals were forbidden in the military so it was imperative that all letters sent back home were to be kept. It was the only way that the men and women overseas were able to chronicle their time in war. Mollie always desired to be a writer and she hoped that one day her letters would make an intriguing biography. While Mollie never actually finds herself in any danger, her life overseas, the people she met and history she witnessed made her time in the military remarkable.

Most of Mollie's time when she wasn't working was spent going on dates with numerous and eager soldiers. Fraternization was highly encouraged for the women in the military and some of these women were dating two to three men at a time. This was certainly the case for Mollie, who eventually finds herself caught in a fragile love triangle.

Mollie was oftentimes a prime point of contact to find family members whether in former Nazi occupied countries or who were also in the military. She never wasted any time to help anyone who needed her and she was an invaluable service to the people back at home who were desperate to know the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Mollie's War is exactly the book one may want to read if they have any interest in the life of WACs and their war service. Mollie's letters are lively, candid and always full of history that's waiting to be revealed. To see the war from a woman's POV was a eye-opening experience. Mollie may never have faced shell fire, but she saw the same destruction and depravity of Hitler's regime (this is especially personal because she's Jewish). Reading her memories that are fresh and full of life made WWII in Europe so much more real and personal.