Drawn from original letters; Private First-Class George Farmer, from Indiana, is a religious man married to Gretchen, whom he loves with his heart and soul. A secret code is exposed in an attempt to beat the censors, and plans for the future are made through the many letters that are written home until March 24th, 1945, when dreams are shattered as George is killed in action. Determined to find out what happened to her husband, Gretchen, and George’s family search for answers in an age before modern technology. A family in Holland is reached where the deceased rested with his unit after their liberation in 1944. Gretchen sends them essential gifts as the family recovers from the shortages of the most basic items after suffering from the occupation of Nazi rule. As the search for information and answers continued to justify George’s existence in writing, uncovered with the help of traced surviving relatives, American, Dutch and Belgian researchers, the story of after life is un-earthed. 

The second part of the story continues with Corporal Eugene Smith Howland, a young Kansas farmer who lived 700 miles away from where the first chapter began. Writing home to his uncle, he often refers to himself as ‘the black sheep of the family’. As he puts pen to paper, on occasion using a helmet as a table, he is clearly disappointed when his mother, and members of his family do not communicate with him on a regular basis. His letters will tug at the heart strings of the hardest of hearts; he writes, “I feel I have been a complete failure during my army life.” He is not a failure; unknown to him at the time of writing, he has left, a wealth of historical information about the American G.I. during training, on manoeuvres, abroad in England, France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany

In 1949, George was repatriated from the Dutch American cemetery in Margraten and brought home to rest in Indiana. Two years prior to this, in 1947, Gretchen remarried a returning war hero: Corporal Eugene Smith Howland.

Both sets of letters are complemented by original documents, telegrams, unearthed photographs and eyewitness accounts that hold fascinating historical insights into the day-to-day lives of two American fighting men. Hungry, dirty, lonely, and homesick, facing mortal danger—this is an account of their gruelling battle for their country, their survival. Vivid and unflinching, Silent Voices is a treasure trove of modern history, crafted through hours of research. It will appeal to readers of  fiction and nonfiction, in the same way as novels such as All Quiet on the Western Front, while capitalizing on the popularity of celebrating the end of hostilities for the 80th anniversary of the Second World War in 2025 and epic films, equivalent to Saving Private Ryan.

 Includes:

• Includes throughout added historical facts as footnotes
• Unique Photograph’s and documents that have never been published
• Eyewitness accounts from interviews and combat diary’s
• Research has involved colleagues from America, Belgium, Holland, England.
• Unearthed history from a Dutch family that shared their home with American liberators and life after occupation.
• In 2024, a joint effort of parties including N.A.T.O. endeavour to see Pfc. George Ronald Farmer posthumously awarded his promotion and award for courage.