Publisher's Synopsis
The most personal account of World War II ever recorded, not by a colonel or a general, but by a field artillery gunner, for his grandchildren... and for grandchildren everywhere. Preface by the Publisher: At first glance Battlefield of Life is just another account of one man's experiences during World War II. Nothing more and nothing less. It is a straight forward account of one man's life from shortly before the war to a time shortly after. It is Raymond A Yeatts' account. So why has his story affected me to the degree that it has? Because on reading his story I found that I held within me memories of similar stories that came from my father and my uncles. I am the same age as Raymond A Yeatts' son, Garland Ray. Reading Mr Yeatts' account it is easy to believe that he was relating from much the same perspective as my own relations. One of the things that strikes me is how much the war shaped and influenced the life of men like Raymond A Yeatts and my father. The war was not just a chapter in their lives with a beginning and an end. It became the basis for a central theme that would transcend the rest of their existence. No matter what they would do with the rest of their lives the marks and impressions of the war would permeate all aspects of that life. Now some fifty years later the war still makes it mark. That mark is not just on the men who fought it. It is also on their sons and daughters. Each of us born during the war years knows something of the atrocities of that war. Not by our own first hand experiences but rather from those that were there and who lived to tell about it. Our lives are marked and shaped by the war experience that we all shared in some degree or another. It is useful and meaningful to contemplate our existence and the impact which World War II had on each of us. For this reason Yeatts' story is not just another account but rather an opportunity for each of us to re-examine ourselves and the aspects of our existence that stem from that conflict. In one way or another stories like Yeatts' have not only influenced Garland Ray and his children but have impacted each of us and our children as well.
