It all began in 1961 when my paternal grandfather, Moe Ellison, presented my astonished father with a box of Havana cigars containing some 300 carefully preserved V-mail letters that my dad had written to his parents and sister from 1943 to 1945. Those letters eventually inspired Dad and me to begin writing Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel: World War II through the Eyes of a Radio Man.

Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel is World War II as you’ve never seen it. It's the hilarious and heartbreaking story of an American air corpsman in mid-1940s Europe told through a unique blend of familial letters, romance, and history, co-authored with my father, Eli Ellison, the man who lived it.

From the London Blitz to V-J Day, Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel chronicles the adventures and misadventures of fighter control technician Don Quix. The product of six years of research and writing, Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel is about 90 percent factual, except for the sex scenes, which are absolutely true. Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel takes readers on a fast-paced, three-year journey through:

• A harrowing night in a London tube shelter;
• Omaha Beach at the start of D-Day;
• Life in Verviers, Belgium, a focal point in the Battle of the Bulge;
• The inner workings of the Fighter Control System, one of the great secrets of Allied air power;
• Fighter control squadron soldiers enduring terrifying buzz bomb attacks;
• Amorous encounters with women from four European countries in trains, forests, and tents under the noses of inspecting officers;
• A bittersweet love triangle involving a beautiful Belgian seamstress;
• Over 100 genuine wartime letters;
• 36 pages of endnotes and references; and
• 9 pages of photographs