Frank Lavin, author of Home Front to Battlefront will join us to discuss the World War II experiences of Carl Lavin.

Carl Lavin was a high school senior in Canton, Ohio, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. In his freshman year of college, he joined the reserves, a decision that would take him with the US Army from training across the United States and Britain to combat with the 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge. Home Front to Battlefront is the tale of a foot soldier who finds himself thrust into a world where he and his unit grapple with the horrors of combat, the idiocies of bureaucracy, and the oddities of life back home—all in the same day. The book is based on Carl’s personal letters, his recollections, and those of the people he served beside, official military history, private papers, and more.

Home Front to Battlefront contributes the rich details of one soldier’s experience to the broader literature on World War II. Lavin’s adventures, in turn disarming and sobering, will appeal to general readers, veterans, educators, and students of the war. As a history, the book offers insight into the wartime career of a Jewish Ohioan in the military, from enlistment to training through overseas deployment. As a biography, it reflects the emotions and the role of the individual in a total war effort that is all too often thought of as a machine war in which human soldiers were merely interchangeable cogs.

Stretch your legs and your mind during the 34th Annual Dupont Kalorama Museum Walk June 3 and 4, 2017 from 11am-4pm

Five diverse museums will open their doors free of charge for this weekend long celebration in Washington, D.C.’s most beautiful neighborhoods. Discover Anderson House, Dumbarton House, NSCDA Museum & Headquarters, National Museum of American Jewish Military History (only open Sunday), The Phillips Collection, and Woodrow Wilson House.