Shadowboxing the Apocalypse: The WW1 Correspondence of Dr. Theo Hascall, 103rd F.A. 26th Yankee Division

Book excerpt: Shadowboxing the Apocalypse- the WW1 correspondence of Dr. Theo Hascall, 103rd Field Artillery, 26th Yankee Division contains fascinating letters sent home from the trenches in The Great War to East Providence (Riverside), RI. It also contains the text of all the letters sent by his wife Emma to Dr. Hascall in France during the Great War. It is a fascinating story of a young couple with three children (all under the age of 10) making sacrifices for their country, surviving the Great War, and weathering the Influenza pandemic in 1918. Their story is told in their own words with over 150 fully transcribed letters arranged by date. The book is divided into chapters corresponding to the major "sectors" the Yankee Division fought in during the war. Dr. Hascall "self censored" his letters, so many normally forbidden remarks are made. Dr. Hascall also carried a small camera, and many of his pictures are published in this book for the first time anywhere.