A Poor Man's Battle
By Frank McElvain (ElEngr'80)
(MFM Publishing, 320 pages; 2023)
This is the story of Sergeant First Class (SFC) John McElvain. Known as “Sambo” as a child, the son of sharecroppers, he abandoned his dream of farming to serve his country with distinction in World War II and Vietnam. Even though battle-hardened, he was not prepared for his greatest challenge—at home with his wife. Hedy was a 4'11" firecracker raised in Bavaria during the Third Reich. Hedy's family and friends endured Nazi labor camp incarceration, being branded communists, and becoming unemployable. War caused John and Hedy’s worlds to collide, but the peace produced damage even to this day.
The middle child of John and Hedy, Frank wrote this book about his parents against the backdrop of the world events that threaded through their lives.
Told alternately by John and Hedy with other people involved in their lives narrating some of the other chapters, SFC: A Poor Man's Battle, describes the impacts on one family through the wars Americans have fought over the last century.