Between the covers of this book lies a well-told and well-worth experience of an account told by one of the first wave of AFSC volunteers after WW II. Fortunately for us and the "record", Bob McCoy's parents - Ohio Quaker farmers - saved all of his weekly letters home for over fifty years. Recently after their deaths, they were found carefully preserved and stowed away in their attic.
The result of this "find" is a selection of these letters put togegether by Bob McCoy and published through the Wlmington College (OH) Peace Resource Center. Its combination of an accurate observer, excellent describer, an articulate letter-writer and his accounts of the mundane adventures of one of the first teams of AFSC volunteers into war torn Europe has produced a living, vivd and readable account of the place, circumstances, times and needs.
Bob McCoy, Westtoen '38 and Earlham '42 went as a mechanic with one of the earliest relief groups to France where he was in charge of overseeing the functioning of the "fleet" of limping trucks so necessary for many of the relief activities. Fortunately these accounts are available for us and posterity through this book. He wrote regularly of the constant breakdowns with both wry humor and an excellent discriptive pen. From his very first letter to his last, his readers interest is held by the reports of the pathos of the era and the palative action of these quiet workers. These young pacifists, many of whom had spent the war years in Civilian Public Service Camps, and who had had no pay when there, were an amazing lot. They put themselves out to live their beliefs and new genenerations need to have this opportunity to appreciate their sense of "make do", humor, steadying their resolve to keep going, dsaily out-spending themselves to help the Europeans to return to "normal lives", and which also holds and gives the reader a fuller realizarion of the psathos of the time, its aftermath and the powelessness and pointlessness of war.
Altogether it is both a well-written and moving book which leads the reader, first to eagerly turn to the next page and then to continue on to the next chapter.
Reviews (1)
The Good Seed, Robert McCoy.
Between the covers of this book lies a well-told and well-worth experience of an account told by one of the first wave of AFSC volunteers after WW II. Fortunately for us and the "record", Bob McCoy's parents - Ohio Quaker farmers - saved all of his weekly letters home for over fifty years. Recently after their deaths, they were found carefully preserved and stowed away in their attic.
The result of this "find" is a selection of these letters put togegether by Bob McCoy and published through the Wlmington College (OH) Peace Resource Center. Its combination of an accurate observer, excellent describer, an articulate letter-writer and his accounts of the mundane adventures of one of the first teams of AFSC volunteers into war torn Europe has produced a living, vivd and readable account of the place, circumstances, times and needs.
Bob McCoy, Westtoen '38 and Earlham '42 went as a mechanic with one of the earliest relief groups to France where he was in charge of overseeing the functioning of the "fleet" of limping trucks so necessary for many of the relief activities. Fortunately these accounts are available for us and posterity through this book. He wrote regularly of the constant breakdowns with both wry humor and an excellent discriptive pen. From his very first letter to his last, his readers interest is held by the reports of the pathos of the era and the palative action of these quiet workers. These young pacifists, many of whom had spent the war years in Civilian Public Service Camps, and who had had no pay when there, were an amazing lot. They put themselves out to live their beliefs and new genenerations need to have this opportunity to appreciate their sense of "make do", humor, steadying their resolve to keep going, dsaily out-spending themselves to help the Europeans to return to "normal lives", and which also holds and gives the reader a fuller realizarion of the psathos of the time, its aftermath and the powelessness and pointlessness of war.
Altogether it is both a well-written and moving book which leads the reader, first to eagerly turn to the next page and then to continue on to the next chapter.
Posted by sally Rickerman | September 10, 2008 4:00 PM
Posted on September 10, 2008 16:00