Wilmer A. "Bud" Wagner was the second man in Northern
Minnesota to be drafted into the war. He carried a small pocket
camera and kept a diary from beginning to end, from Camp Claiborne
to Ireland to North Africa and the Italy Campaigns. His keen day
by day observations have been amplified with a lifetime of research
and reflection to provide readers with important insights through
the eyes of a young soldier from rural Minnesota.
Mr. Wagner - cook, machine gunner and company agent - had the
privilege of being on the first convoy to make its way across
the Atlantic for the European theater. And the good fortune of
having survived the duration of the war without becoming a casualty
- in North Africa and Italy, which included beachheads at Anzio
and Salerno.
The book is a joint project involving the research skills and
memoirs of WW II veteran Bud Wagner, his son Lloyd Wagner (Masters
in Literature). For years I encouraged Mr. Wagner to amplify his
diaries and make a book of them. He has greatly exceeded my expectations
and, with the able editing of his son, has produced a fascinating
manuscript. A large collection of photographs accompanies the
text.
