Connections Through Letters During WWII with Lisa Shapiro

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Lisa Shapiro is the author of No Forgotten Fronts: From Classrooms to Combat, published by the Naval Institute Press. Lisa read almost 5,000 letters written by servicemen and servicewomen from San Diego who wrote to one college professor during WWII.

Lisa Shapiro – Collection of WWII Letters to One Professor

Lisa started teaching in 2002 in San Diego at a community college and has always had veterans in her classroom.  She wanted to help and better understand veterans and their experiences.  In addition, she believes they bring a lot of value to the classroom. Lisa wanted to be on the forefront of helping veterans in making their transition from the military to the business world.  

“Veterans make awesome students.” – Lisa Shapiro

After deciding to go back to school, Lisa researched war literature.  She came across a letter collection at San Diego State University and spent 2 years going through these letters that veterans had written to one professor, Dr. Post.  Doc, his nickname, believed in connecting veterans. He created a newsletter and more veterans started writing him. Doc wanted veterans to know that they were important and not forgotten.

Mosaic of Letters

The letters that were written became much like a mosaic of stories that Lisa had to thread together.  The newsletter became important to all that wrote to Doc. The stories written from the letters started to intertwine veterans together due to their experiences and circumstances.  

“To me that captures how much that newsletter meant to these young men and women; they called it their morale booster .” – Lisa Shapiro

Embracing the Story

Lisa’s book is published by Naval Institute Press.  The Naval Institute Press is a non-profit organization and the mission is to put military stories or stories about military life including history and the social impact of war to bring that to a broader audience.  

“One of the things I liked about the Naval Institute Press and working with their editors is that they really embraced the story.”– Lisa Shiparo

To hear the rest of Lisa Shapiro’s journey as the author of No Forgotten Fronts: From Classrooms to Combat, download and listen to the rest of the episode.

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Check out these links for Lisa Shiparo

• No Forgotten Fronts: From Classrooms to Combat – Naval Institute Press

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