Military Lecture: Love & War–From the front and the home frontsThursday, October 15, 7:00 p.m.

Guelph Civic Museum, 52 Norfolk Street

Susan Brown, joined by Blair Janzen, presents the real stories of her parents, which have been compiled into a book titled “Love and War” as an epistolary narrative. The narrative is based on 400 letters between Brown’s parents and grandparents, detailing their experiences as medical personnel in England, North Africa, and Italy during the Second World War. Their accounts are fascinating in terms of their roles and life in the military. These are real stories. A doctor and nurse from Guelph who reunite overseas and marry in England. Deployment to North Africa is her future; his is deployment to Italy. Their military roles bring them close to a variety of battlefronts in all three areas. It’s a loving memoir wrapped in adventure. The poignancy in war is revealed in several stories: the unknown graves in an Italian town, managing allied soldiers dietary and religious needs in a medical setting, paying POWs in food for services, and the gratitude of occupied populations for medical support.