Hoosier author Kayleen Reusser has completed her third book of military stories entitled We Gave Our Best: American World War II Veterans Tell Their Stories.
She will present a talk and photos about her experiences of interviewing World War II veterans at Plymouth Public Library on Monday, December 3, at 6:00 p.m. Reusser will also share photos from her 10-day World War II tour through Europe, including Omaha Beach, Paris, and Dachau. Copies of her books will be available for purchase at the book signing and can be ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
We Gave Our Best: American World War II Veterans Tell Their Stories is a compilation of war vignettes written by Reusser based on her personal interviews with 250 World War II veterans throughout the nation, although the majority live in Indiana.
The second volume in Reusser’s World War II Legacies series, They Did It for Honor: Stories of American WWII Veterans, contains 34 stories of men and women, mostly Hoosiers. The books feature photographs provided by veterans during World War II, providing a historical account through the eyes of those who served. “The books give a personal feel to an important time in world history,” said Reusser.
Reusser recently released a second edition of her first World War II Legacies book, which she renamed We Fought to Win: American World War II Veterans Share Their Stories. The second edition with more than two dozen stories of men and women from Indiana, has a newly-designed cover that matches the designs of the second and third books in the series and more photos.
She is working on other related products such as an audio book and eBooks.
All of the veterans featured in We Gave Our Best: American WWII Veterans Tell Their Stories will be invited as guests of honor at a book-signing event scheduled for Saturday, November 3, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza in downtown Fort Wayne. The public is invited to attend this unique event at which the veterans will sign pages of their respective stories. Reusser’s books will be available for purchase at the event.
Reusser said that as many as 10 of the 34 veterans featured in the book could attend. “The book-signing party is a rare opportunity to meet these historical figures who are becoming fewer in number each year and who helped change history,” she said. “I encourage families to bring their children to meet and thank the veterans for their military service.”
Reusser is married to a retired U.S. Air Force airman and is the mother of an airman officer. “I write books to show my support for those who have served and currently defend our country,” she said. From 2015 through 2018, she wrote a bi-weekly column for The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne that included stories of local World War II and Korean War veterans. In addition, she has accompanied local veterans on the Honor Flight of Northeast Indiana trips to Washington, D.C.
In addition to writing the World War II Legacies books, Reusser has authored 15 nonfiction children’s books for middle-grade students. She serves as a freelance writer for various publications and leads two Christian writing clubs for aspiring and published writers.
