Home Front to Battlefront

An Ohio Teenager in World War II

By: Frank Lavin

Narrated by: Gary D. MacFadden, Frank Lavin

Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Carl Lavin was a high school senior when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Canton, Ohio, native enlisted when he turned 18, a decision that would take him with the US Army from training across the United States and Britain to combat with the 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge.

Home Front to Battlefront is the tale of a foot soldier who finds himself thrust into a world where he and his unit grapple with the horrors of combat, the idiocies of bureaucracy, and the oddities of life back home - all in the same day. It is based on Carl's personal letters, his recollections, and those of the people he served beside, official military history, private papers, and more.

Home Front to Battlefront contributes the rich details of one soldier's experience to the broader literature on World War II. Lavin's adventures, in turn disarming and sobering, will appeal to general listeners, veterans, educators, and students of the war.

As a history, the audiobook offers insight into the wartime career of a Jewish Ohioan in the military, from enlistment to training through overseas deployment. As a biography, it reflects the emotions and the role of the individual in a total war effort that is all too often thought of as a machine war in which human soldiers were merely interchangeable cogs.

Published by Ohio University Press.

"If you like American history, or military history, or just a good narrative yarn, do check out "Home Front to Battlefront." - Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard

"Carl Lavin's combined letters and memoir are an invaluable contribution to the literature on the American G.I.'s experiences in World War II." - Peter S. Kindsvatter, author of American Soldiers: Ground Combat in the World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam

©2016 Ohio University Press (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks

Growing and becoming a Man but still enjoying life

Have to say I am highly impressed with this audible it is ashame we do not have the letters he received from home and friends. In addition it is so good to watch a young kid grow into a real man but still have the love and gratitude of a young boy toward his family. He would be the perfect role model for anyone both boys and girls and today we could use so many more like him.
We read, watch movies about WWII but Carl brings it to life and you see a different side of what war is like both in action on the field of battle and a person special place he can go to rest, recover, write letters and try to live a bit of a life without the war happening. In his letters you are able to the horror of war does to men, cities and a nation.
If I had lived at that time I would have liked to meet him he is a man of integrity and trust very down to earth and trying to better himself to make himself a better person and his family and US so much better.

Thank You

Thank you for the effort you put forth creating this book. It’s so important that we take time to collect and record the information from the past. This book is a very good read/listen and I will be passing it on to others. I am a very long time Stark County resident which made me feel that much more attached to the story.

Fantastic read

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed Frank Lavin's account of his father's time in the Second World war. It is beautifully written and takes you into one person's on the ground experience of what it was like to go to war as a 19 year old.