Veale F. Moriarty crossed the English Channel after D-Day and fought in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Every week he wrote letters home to his mother, Muno, in Jacksonville, Florida. As he traveled across Europe, he found pets and girlfriends until the day he met his wife-to-be, the French woman Andrée Boziére, in Paris. She asked him to look after her dog. Veale's letters home sketch out the big and the small picture of war. He wrote to keep his mother interested while sparing her grisly details. A decorated veteran -- awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Bronze Star-- he has compassion, insight, and humor. "Muno," he wrote, "Do you know how to make puppies eat?"