From Calcutta with Love: The World War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard [Hardcover]

Richard Beard (Author), Reva Beard (Author), Elaine Pinkerton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2002

The saga of China, Burma, India—World War II’s forgotten theater—is as heroic as it is seldom told. CBI ground troops were charged with the Herculean task of carving a road from India to China through humid jungles where disease was as great a hazard as the Japanese, and pilots who “flew the Hump,” the treacherous flight route over the Himalayas, braved violent monsoon rains, deadly wind shifts, and mountainsides that suddenly loomed from the clouds. Richard Beard, an Army psychologist assigned to the 142nd General Hospital in Calcutta, dealt daily with emotional trauma. While American and British soldiers hacked their way through dense tropical forests to build the supply route, Beard immersed himself in the internal jungles of those he treated. A pillar to the men he served, Beard was an astute listener and observer, pleased to be playing his part. But his own pillar was his wife, Reva, teaching school half a world away in Findlay, Ohio. In daily letters to Reva, he poured out not only his observations of life in India but also his own longing and passions, and the unfolding drama of war, in painfully exquisite detail tempered with tenderness and humor. Reva’s return letters are filled with news of the home front and stories of her young students, but through them all courses a longing for Richard’s safe return. In these letters the couple’s devotion to each other in the face of separation and their willingness to see the war through to its end demonstrate once again the dedication of the World War II generation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press; First Edition edition (February 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896724689
• ISBN-13: 978-0896724686
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #929,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letters From India/Letters From Home, March 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: From Calcutta with Love: The World War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book so much! The totality of the letters is finally a story of love, patience, endurance, and the way we and two people in particular are able to live through a long absence and the fears of war. The book gave a strong sense of how very difficult it would be to be separated for TWO years when one is very much in love, and really how brave Richard and Reva both were to keep going, doing what was necessary to get through one day and then the next and then the next. These characters, the mother and father of the author, come through so well, not only through their endearments, but through the everydayness of their lives (when they can be everyday) and the specialness of their lives in times of stress, loneliness and disgust and fear. The author did a superb job of putting all this together. FCWL also includes several fairly long essays about the China-Burma-India theatre, which gives the reader a good grounding on this aspect of World War II. It was nice to have the author tell "the rest of the story" too--about how she and her brother were adopted by Richard and Reva and about their lives as a family.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A touching, informative gem, October 1, 2002

By 

D. L. Williams (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Calcutta with Love: The World War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard (Hardcover)

This collection beautifully captures both the magic of letters and the exotic, turbulent China-Burma-India theater of World War II. The devotion this couple, Richard and Reva Beard, have for each other will renew your faith in steadfast love. Their daughter Elaine Pinkerton has added her intriguing, informative historical essays, enriching the reader's imagination and understanding of this little-recognized part of WWII.
You'll find yourself marking letters to re-read later - for their moving sentiment or marvelous wit. Whether you read "From Calcutta with Love" for literary or historical reasons, you'll be amply satisfied.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Way To Look At World War II, June 10, 2002

By 

Peggy van Hulsteyn (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Calcutta with Love: The World War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard (Hardcover)

Elaine Pinkerton's "From Calcutta with Love" offers a unique way to look at World War II. I enjoyed learning about the China-Burma-India theater of operations and getting to know about Richard and Reva Beard through their daily letters. Their devotion was the old-fashioned kind, their relationship one that could serve as a model for today. The book is a powerful reminder of the way WWII tested values, built character and deepened love affairs. "From Calcutta with Love" stayed with me long after I read the epilogue. I was entertained, touched, and inspired!