Hearts Away, Bombs Away: The Story of Lt. and Mrs. Vincent dePaul Gisriel, Sr

Hearts Away, Bombs Away is a true World War II story. The author's father was a bombardier on a B17 aircraft. Vincent knew that when he was growing up, but he had no idea of what his father and his crew had accomplished during the war. Veterans of World War II simply did not talk much about combat when they returned home. Upon the death of his father in 2003, some of his fellow crew members began to share some of the exciting stories that occurred in the skies over Germany and occupied Europe. After hearing the stories, the author became very interested in his father's military record and began to research it. He was able to document a good number of his father's missions over enemy territory. Along the way, he remembered that his parents had corresponded extensively during the war. They wrote and saved over 1,000 letters between them. In 2006, Vincent began to read every letter. Initially, the author was looking for information about the war and that era; but he soon realized that his father could not write about missions, or military strategy because that would have been a security breach. Nevertheless, the bombardier did write and share information about military life, in general. The author's mother wrote about events occurring back home. However, the author also discovered a beautiful love story between his parents that just poured off the pages of their letters. Vincent had set out to write a war story, which he did; but he also found a love story that just would not go away, thus Hearts Away, Bombs Away.