James Maurice Gavin left for war in April 1943 as a colonel commanding the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne DivisionaAmericaas first airborne division and the first to fight in World War II. In 1944, aSlim Jima Gavin, as he was known to his troops, at the age of thirty-seven became the 82ndas commanding generalathe youngest Army officer to become a major general since the Civil War. At waras end, this soldieras soldier had become one of our greatest generalsaand the 82ndas most decorated officer.Now James Gavinas letters home to his nine-year-old daughter Barbara provide a revealing portrait of the American experience in World War II through the eyes of one of its most dynamic officers. Written from ship decks, foxholes, and field tentsaoften just before or after a dangerous jumpathey capture the day-to-day realities of combat and Gavinas personal reactions to the war he helped to win. And provide an invaluable self-portrait of a great general, and a great American, in war and peace.The bookas more than 200 letters begin at Fort Bragg in 1943 and continue to December 1945, as Gavin came home to lead the 82nd at the head of the Victory parade in New York. This correspondence constitutes the majority of Gavinas private wartime letters, but except for rare appearances in regimental newsletters, it has never before been published. In her Introduction, Epilogue, and Notes, Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy gives a privileged glimpse of the private man. Edited by Gayle Wurst, the book features historical overviews by Starlyn Jorgensen, a preface by noted Gavin biographer Gerard M. Devlin, and a foreword by Rufus Broadaway, Gavinas aide-de-camp.