Defining Moments

"Defining Moments" is the compelling true life story of one American soldier's adventures in the South Pacific during World War II. It is a captivating tale of war behind the front lines as revealed through the prism of the more than 300 letters this young G.I. from rural Ohio wrote to his family between the years 1940-45. This memoir, written by the soldier's eldest son, captures in vivid detail Bill Dustman's transformation from a boy into a man. The book presents, in candid detail, the "defining moments" which shaped this young man's life after he was freed from the bucolic, but cloistered environment of his rural hometown to experience an unfamiliar and uncaring world over which he had little control.

"Defining Moments" graphically and honestly paints a word picture of Bill's romantic liaisons, his conflicted relationships with fellow G.I.'s, the bizarre, humorous, and even tragic moments that he encountered during his exciting odyssey through the mosquito-infested jungles of Fiji and Solomon Islands to the more inviting tropical beauty of the Philippines.

"Defining Moments" traces not only Bill Dustman's physical journey through war, but also his psychological and emotional sojourn as he battled to cope with fear, anger, frustration, self-doubt and sadness because of his long separation from family. This book will resonate with every reader on some very personal level.

The portrait that emerges is of a man in search of himself and the meaning of his own existence in a world that no longer made sense to him. But this is also the tale of a family in crisis, whose love and respect for another, so strong during the war years, was severely tested in the post-war years and beyond. We have a front row seat to the drama of a family from America's heartland as it struggles to retain the closeness that once bound them together, but which began to crumble due to unfortunate and unforeseen, but preventable, circumstances.

This is an inspiring story of survival, sacrifice, faith, hope and in the end, reconciliation.