Book description
Elden Duane Rogers died on March 19, 1945, one of the eight hundred who perished on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin that day. It was his nineteenth birthday.
Write home often, the navy told sailors like Elden, thinking it would keep up morale among sailors and those waiting for them…
Why read it?
1 author picked So Long for Now as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This book is about the author’s brother, Elden: life in his hometown of Vega, Texas, and his experience as a Navy seaman aboard the USS Franklin. Elden’s letters provide the framework for the story but consist almost entirely of small talk and gossip. Yet as Rogers expands on the letters, I learned how life in Vega differed from today’s world and how it was affected by the war. Rogers’ reconstruction of Elden’s almost daily experience during the year he served in the Navy was also enlightening.
The Franklin was the most heavily damaged aircraft carrier to survive the war,…
From Royce's list on The best books that capture the lives of ordinary men and women in World War II.
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