Defining Moments: A True Story of War, Family Conflict & Reconciliation - Softcover

Dustman, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 146341692X ISBN 13: 9781463416928

Publisher: AuthorHouse Publishing, 2011

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Dustman is a former broadcast journalist who enjoyed a successful twenty-five year career as a reporter, anchor, news director, sports director and political editor at radio and television stations throughout the State of Michigan. During his tenure at WWJ, the all-news CBS radio owned and operated radio station in Detroit, Mr. Dustman's news reports were aired frequently on other CBS stations around the country, as well as the CBS Radio Network. He covered the 1988 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and the inauguration of President George H.W. Bush in 1989. After he left broadcasting in 1992, Mr. Dustman was appointed Director of Media & Communications in the administration of Oakland County (Michigan) Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who is one of Michigan's longest serving, best known and most respected political leaders. Mr. Dustman and his wife, Mary Alice, who have been married for fifteen years, make their home in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a small, relatively affluent community, about thirty miles north of downtown Detroit. Although now retired, Mr. Dustman serves as a public relations consultant for Park West Galleries, headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, which is one of the world's foremost fine arts dealers with 1.3 million customers in sixty countries worldwide. He is also a free-lance voice-over talent.

About this edition

• Publisher: AuthorHouse Publishing
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 146341692X
• ISBN 13: 9781463416928
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220