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As Always, Jack: A Wartime Love Story
Near the end of WWII, a Navy pilot meets and falls in love with a beautiful California girl. They have a brief two weeks together before he is shipped off to the South Pacific. This is an engaging collection of his letters, compiled by the daughter he never got to meet. Full of poignant detail—a chronicle of the passions and fears of wartime—the book is the ultimate love story of America's “greatest generation.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
July 15, 2009
This is a beautiful and sweet biography about the author's father whom she never got to meet. Her mother and father met at the end of World War II and got married when he returned home. The author's mother was pregnant with her when her father's plane was lost at sea. She found a bunch of love letters written to her mother from her father and this is how she finally got to know her father.
August 4, 2017
The best love stories are true. Great reveal near the end. And yes, the ending had me diving for the tissue box!
July 27, 2013
I don't normally read memoirs, or true stories, or collections, but this tore at my heart strings from the first letter. I had goosebumps as I read each page, cried, laughed. I could clearly see Jack, in a strange land, writing letters to the girl he'd just spent a short few days with, and realizes, within a few weeks of being apart, that he loves her. The torture of awaiting her letters, the lack of communication of war time (pre cell phones, text messages, Skype, email,) really brings home how different things were. And to know that in the end he won't live...
A great read! I highly recommend! Quick too, and great to take to the pool or beach or your back yard and enjoy in the warm summer months!
A great read! I highly recommend! Quick too, and great to take to the pool or beach or your back yard and enjoy in the warm summer months!
July 20, 2012
Four months after her father was lost in the waters south of Bermuda on what was supposed to have been a routine Navy flight, Emma Sweeney was born. By the time she was old enough to start wondering about the father she'd never known, Emma's mother had remarried. And with a reticence to revisit the past, perhaps characteristic of her mother's generation, information about her father was slow to come over the years, when at all. But following her mother's passing, Emma discovered her final gift -- a ribbon-tied packet of fragile letters through which she finally met the man that tragic plane crash, decades earlier, had forever robbed her of the chance to know in person. Through those letters she finally met Jack.
As Always, Jack, collects the letters Lt. Jack Sweeney wrote Beebe Mathewson over the course of a six-month deployment to Asia in 1946. Though they'd known each other a scant eleven days before he left California for points east, that was enough for Jack, who made no secret of his determination to win Beebe's heart. Funny, heartfelt, and poignant, Jack's letters are not only an introduction to a young man head-over-heels in love with the woman he'd determined to marry, but a window into the hopes and dreams, concerns and fears faced by those living in the uncertainties of the waning days of World War II.
This slim volume is beautifully designed, interspersing period reproductions of air mail stamps and Jack's humorous illustrations throughout the text. The latter, especially, are powerful reminders of the intensely personal nature of these letters, and what a precious gift it is to be invited to share in the heady early days of this timeless love story. As I met Emma's father, I was powerfully struck by what a rare gift it is for a child to gain such insight into their parents, to see them before they became firmly ensconced in a parental role, when life and love were still very new prospects. As such this book is an intensely personal gift, one that cannot fail tug the heartstrings, threaten tears, and leave the reader awash with a renewed sense of gratefulness for the sacrifices of the military and their families through the ages in the name of honor, duty, and patriotism. This book is an incredible gift, one I'll not soon forget.
"Just remember me once in a while -- not too often, or it'll cramp your style, you know -- and as long as I'm remembered, I'm not really dead. I'll still be living in John, and Bill, and Al, and Dan, bless their hearts. That's what they mean by eternity, I think." (from Jack's final letter, written days before his death in 1956)
As Always, Jack, collects the letters Lt. Jack Sweeney wrote Beebe Mathewson over the course of a six-month deployment to Asia in 1946. Though they'd known each other a scant eleven days before he left California for points east, that was enough for Jack, who made no secret of his determination to win Beebe's heart. Funny, heartfelt, and poignant, Jack's letters are not only an introduction to a young man head-over-heels in love with the woman he'd determined to marry, but a window into the hopes and dreams, concerns and fears faced by those living in the uncertainties of the waning days of World War II.
This slim volume is beautifully designed, interspersing period reproductions of air mail stamps and Jack's humorous illustrations throughout the text. The latter, especially, are powerful reminders of the intensely personal nature of these letters, and what a precious gift it is to be invited to share in the heady early days of this timeless love story. As I met Emma's father, I was powerfully struck by what a rare gift it is for a child to gain such insight into their parents, to see them before they became firmly ensconced in a parental role, when life and love were still very new prospects. As such this book is an intensely personal gift, one that cannot fail tug the heartstrings, threaten tears, and leave the reader awash with a renewed sense of gratefulness for the sacrifices of the military and their families through the ages in the name of honor, duty, and patriotism. This book is an incredible gift, one I'll not soon forget.
"Just remember me once in a while -- not too often, or it'll cramp your style, you know -- and as long as I'm remembered, I'm not really dead. I'll still be living in John, and Bill, and Al, and Dan, bless their hearts. That's what they mean by eternity, I think." (from Jack's final letter, written days before his death in 1956)
July 10, 2012
Emma Sweeney has spent her life wondering what her real father must have been like. From time to time, she could gather moments in time from her mother of what their courtship and marriage must have been like because he died before she was born. Her mother didn't like to talk about Jack much but when she did, Emma could tell she had fond memories of him. Yet somehow it still seemed like something was missing, a part of him she couldn't know until when her mother died from complications of heart disease, did she come across 45 precious letters detailing their love during the course of a year and a half while he was at war.
It is through those letters that Emma learns of the man her father was, how he viewed the time he spent with her mother, that he lovingly refers to in his letters to her as Blonde! It takes the reader into a different time and place, when letters home from those serving in the war, show just how valuable communication was from those they longed to hear from. She learns how Jack spent his time serving as a Navy Pilot from Texas as he moved from base to base and what he did to pass his time away.
Emma shares those letters in the memoir, As Always, Jack, a World War Two Love Story. Here we get to see how just one simple photograph is enough to anchor a man who doesn't know when or if he'll make it home and how weeks can go by without hearing from home. Yet it's through their faithful letter writing that they got to know one another and how it fanned the flames of love and gave Emma a rare insight into the man she never knew but got to know through his love letters to her mom.
I received As Always, Jack by Emma Sweeney compliments of TLC Book Tours and Axios Publishers for my honest review. Being a huge WWII history lover, this book resounded within me as well as a hopeful romantic who gets an inside look at what one man wrote to his girlfriend to keep him going through a very long war. It's beautiful, warm, and often times funny at how he talks to Beebe, with one of my favorite lines in a letter closing being, "Is you is, or is you ain't my Beebe?" Now I know just how important communication from home is for those serving in the war and my heart aches for those who may not have anyone to write home to, and why letter writing campaigns to our serving men and women is so vital today. I rate this memoir a 5 out of 5 stars and thank Emma Sweeney for sharing the love of her father and mother with all who read these words.
It is through those letters that Emma learns of the man her father was, how he viewed the time he spent with her mother, that he lovingly refers to in his letters to her as Blonde! It takes the reader into a different time and place, when letters home from those serving in the war, show just how valuable communication was from those they longed to hear from. She learns how Jack spent his time serving as a Navy Pilot from Texas as he moved from base to base and what he did to pass his time away.
Emma shares those letters in the memoir, As Always, Jack, a World War Two Love Story. Here we get to see how just one simple photograph is enough to anchor a man who doesn't know when or if he'll make it home and how weeks can go by without hearing from home. Yet it's through their faithful letter writing that they got to know one another and how it fanned the flames of love and gave Emma a rare insight into the man she never knew but got to know through his love letters to her mom.
I received As Always, Jack by Emma Sweeney compliments of TLC Book Tours and Axios Publishers for my honest review. Being a huge WWII history lover, this book resounded within me as well as a hopeful romantic who gets an inside look at what one man wrote to his girlfriend to keep him going through a very long war. It's beautiful, warm, and often times funny at how he talks to Beebe, with one of my favorite lines in a letter closing being, "Is you is, or is you ain't my Beebe?" Now I know just how important communication from home is for those serving in the war and my heart aches for those who may not have anyone to write home to, and why letter writing campaigns to our serving men and women is so vital today. I rate this memoir a 5 out of 5 stars and thank Emma Sweeney for sharing the love of her father and mother with all who read these words.
July 19, 2012
A beautiful memoir and letters. Emma Sweeney meets the father she never knew via his love letters to her mother written in 1946. A navy pilot, Jack Sweeney left for an undetermined length of time for duty in the Pacific two weeks after he met the woman he would marry. Ten years later, while stationed in the Caribbean, Jack's plane goes into the Atlantic while on a mission, there were no suvivors. Emma is born several months later. Emma grew up knowing next to nothing about her father; her mother rarely spoke of him, believing it was best for the family to move on. Years later, after her mother's death, Emma finds her father's letters to her mother written in 1946. Through the letters, Emma meets the father she never knew, living up to her imagination of him. The letters are funny and sweet. Worth a read.
April 25, 2013
I read this in a couple hours tonight. Phenomenal book told by letters from the author's late father. A navy pilot who eventually was lost in the Bermuda Triangle, the letters he wrote the woman who would later become his bride are a glimpse into the world of WWII America... They knew each other a mere two weeks but through letters learned about each and fell in love...A ten year marriage and five children were the result.., the author often wondered if her father knew she even existed since her mother was pregnant with her when her fathers plane was lost...read the book to find out...every woman should have a Jack in her life....
February 24, 2015
A really really good non-fiction love story. Emma Sweeney's father is a really good letter writer. It has a tragic end but reading letters made me feel happy and loved. If this guy was alive at this time, at whatever age, I'll probably fall in love with him. His witty, funny, faithful, sure and sweet. Its hard to look for that kind of man nowadays. If you want an easy and happy read then pick this book up. :)
May 17, 2013
This was an amazing read, both for the romantic aspect of the letters this man wrote to his girlfriend who became his wife and for the aspect of a daughter learning about her father through the letters he sent her mother before she was born. His letters are wonderfully witty and romantic and it definitely speaks to a time when there was romance and love and connections between people that were shared in letters. I just so absolutely enjoyed this.
June 10, 2017
A series of letters written by a navy pilot stationed overseas and sent to his sweetheart in California make up the bulk of this book. The letters are entertaining, sweet, and humorous. They make it easy to see why the girl fell in love with this guy during their correspondence. I love that it's a true story!
July 25, 2013
I was expecting a wartime love story with letters mixed in. What I got was a brief back story with letter after letter. Without seeing the letters she sent Jack, there was no way to understand what on earth his letters were talking about. It was all quite confusing. I put it down about 1/4 through and won't be picking it up again.
October 18, 2010
This is the kind of book that you save to read on a snowy night when you are the only one at home, can light a fire in the fireplace, put on your fuzzy slippers and settle into a comfortable chair with hot chocolate, which is the main reason you read books, anyway.
December 2, 2017
I read this in about an hour. I'm sure the author wished more than I do for the corresponding letters her mother wrote. Overall a sweet book. I wish there were more.
February 3, 2021
I’m not one for memoirs usually but this quick read of a courtship told through letters certainly tugs the heartstrings at times.
The story of Jack & Beebe unfolds in three parts. Firstly, Emma finds letters sent by her father in her late mothers things. Never having known her father, & with her mother having been reluctant to talk about him, (why? that seems strange to me), naturally she is curious to learn more about him & through the letters she gets some understanding of the sort of man her father was.
Jack & Beebe had known each other a mere eleven days before he was shipped off to Hawaii. What followed was a postal romance in which, over the next seven months, letters went back & forth between the two. Only Jack’s letter have survived & sometimes it would have me wondering just what it was Beebe had said in hers! The letters are tender & romantic, funny & sweet (though I did worry when Jack questioned whether Beebe was putting on weight – on very dodgy ground there I thought!) The letters are complete with Jack’s little illustrations & the addition of stamps & air mail colours are a nice touch. It's sad that the art of letter writing seems lost. While you could put all the same words into an email it could never have the same impact as a beautifully scripted letter. Yes, you can store an email to re-read again but let’s face it, it’s not the same as taking a treasured letter carefully from it's envelope, having something you can physically hold & knowing your loved one has held that paper just as you are doing. It must have been such a comfort to the couple.
The third part of the story briefly covers the time between Jack’s homecoming & his death & for me was by far the most moving chapter. There is a beautifully poignant final letter, one Jack sent shortly before his death & I’ll admit it had me welling up! In it he says:
"Just remember me once in a while – not too often, or it’ll cramp your style, you know - and as long as I’m remembered, I’m not really dead"
It’s almost as if he’d had a premonition (though I am also reading a book on unexplained paranormal events so that may be influencing my thoughts!)
All in all a simple but charming read & a lovely tribute from Emma to the father she never knew.
The story of Jack & Beebe unfolds in three parts. Firstly, Emma finds letters sent by her father in her late mothers things. Never having known her father, & with her mother having been reluctant to talk about him, (why? that seems strange to me), naturally she is curious to learn more about him & through the letters she gets some understanding of the sort of man her father was.
Jack & Beebe had known each other a mere eleven days before he was shipped off to Hawaii. What followed was a postal romance in which, over the next seven months, letters went back & forth between the two. Only Jack’s letter have survived & sometimes it would have me wondering just what it was Beebe had said in hers! The letters are tender & romantic, funny & sweet (though I did worry when Jack questioned whether Beebe was putting on weight – on very dodgy ground there I thought!) The letters are complete with Jack’s little illustrations & the addition of stamps & air mail colours are a nice touch. It's sad that the art of letter writing seems lost. While you could put all the same words into an email it could never have the same impact as a beautifully scripted letter. Yes, you can store an email to re-read again but let’s face it, it’s not the same as taking a treasured letter carefully from it's envelope, having something you can physically hold & knowing your loved one has held that paper just as you are doing. It must have been such a comfort to the couple.
The third part of the story briefly covers the time between Jack’s homecoming & his death & for me was by far the most moving chapter. There is a beautifully poignant final letter, one Jack sent shortly before his death & I’ll admit it had me welling up! In it he says:
"Just remember me once in a while – not too often, or it’ll cramp your style, you know - and as long as I’m remembered, I’m not really dead"
It’s almost as if he’d had a premonition (though I am also reading a book on unexplained paranormal events so that may be influencing my thoughts!)
All in all a simple but charming read & a lovely tribute from Emma to the father she never knew.
March 28, 2022
Ms. Sweeney never knew her father, Jack, who shared a whirlwind romance with her mother via letters while stationed in the Pacific just after WWII. This slim volume, contains the actual collection of letters from her navy pilot father to her mother during the last months of WWII.
They met in Coronado and knew each other a mere two weeks before he got shipped off. Through their letters they got to know each other, and fell in love. A ten year marriage and five children were the result. To avoid any confusion, I’ll tell you that the author’s mother was pregnant with her when her father’s plane went down during a routine Navy flight.
By the time the Ms. Sweeney was old enough to start wondering about the father she’d never known, her mother had remarried. And with a reluctance to revisit the past, details about her father and their romance were scarce. Following her mother’s passing, Emma discovered a ribbon-tied packet of fragile letters and a photo — through which she finally met her father.
These letters depict far more than the typical navy pilot meets and falls in love with a beautiful California girl. Jack’s sense of humor and wit shines through. His personality is bold and cocky – as he woos, cajoles, and romances this beautiful girl from Coronado. Yet as the same time, he shows his insecurity that she doesn’t love him as much, and grows despondent when her letters don’t arrive.
Throughout the letters are Jack’s comical illustrations, 1940’s slang and references – from the films he sees on base to the virtues of the Fibber MacGee and Molly radio program – over which they disagree.
As Always, Jack is an intensely personal gift from the author — not only by the sharing of her father’s letters, but also with the introduction and afterword she wrote to give a fuller picture of her parents endearing romance.
More at https://www.BookBarmy.com
They met in Coronado and knew each other a mere two weeks before he got shipped off. Through their letters they got to know each other, and fell in love. A ten year marriage and five children were the result. To avoid any confusion, I’ll tell you that the author’s mother was pregnant with her when her father’s plane went down during a routine Navy flight.
By the time the Ms. Sweeney was old enough to start wondering about the father she’d never known, her mother had remarried. And with a reluctance to revisit the past, details about her father and their romance were scarce. Following her mother’s passing, Emma discovered a ribbon-tied packet of fragile letters and a photo — through which she finally met her father.
These letters depict far more than the typical navy pilot meets and falls in love with a beautiful California girl. Jack’s sense of humor and wit shines through. His personality is bold and cocky – as he woos, cajoles, and romances this beautiful girl from Coronado. Yet as the same time, he shows his insecurity that she doesn’t love him as much, and grows despondent when her letters don’t arrive.
Throughout the letters are Jack’s comical illustrations, 1940’s slang and references – from the films he sees on base to the virtues of the Fibber MacGee and Molly radio program – over which they disagree.
As Always, Jack is an intensely personal gift from the author — not only by the sharing of her father’s letters, but also with the introduction and afterword she wrote to give a fuller picture of her parents endearing romance.
More at https://www.BookBarmy.com
November 3, 2021
While reading most of this book I kept thinking there wasn't a lot here. Just a guy writing to his girlfriend about how much he loves her. But by the end of the book I fell in love with the guy and the story and needed a few tissues. This is the story of a man who fell in love with his future wife and was killed in action after they were married 10 years and had four children with one on the way. The daughter never met her father but after her mother died she found a bundle of letters her father had written to her mother from the service before they were married. The letters helped her deal with her grief of never knowing her father. This book is short and sweet but will leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling when you are done.
February 18, 2020
Filling in notes from my 2006 book journal:
I picked this up at a used book sale over the weekend. I vaguely recalled hearing about it - something about a book of collected love letters from the war, and the daughter found them after her parents passing. Then halfway through reading it and being caught up in the story, it hit me that maybe this was not the book I remembered and what if this one was just fiction. I was relieved to find it labeled memoir (though James Frey has damaged that title tremendously of late). It was fascinating to follow a relationship conducted mostly by letter and hearing the one sided story and best of all to know it had a happy ending.
I picked this up at a used book sale over the weekend. I vaguely recalled hearing about it - something about a book of collected love letters from the war, and the daughter found them after her parents passing. Then halfway through reading it and being caught up in the story, it hit me that maybe this was not the book I remembered and what if this one was just fiction. I was relieved to find it labeled memoir (though James Frey has damaged that title tremendously of late). It was fascinating to follow a relationship conducted mostly by letter and hearing the one sided story and best of all to know it had a happy ending.
May 13, 2022
"A poignant reminder of the power of a letter - in this case bringing to life for a daughter the father she never knew, and allowing her to experience firsthand the love out of which she was conceived. As Always, Jack is a little gem." Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. This book was mentioned in 100 Years of Romance at the Hotel del Coronado, which is where Emma Sweeney's parents first met (at a tea dance) and fell in love. They had their wedding reception there as well. The story is romantic and sad and heart-warming, a testimony that true love lasts.
January 10, 2023
Wow. Just...wow. I expected this to be an easy (that is quick) read. I expected to be drawn into Jack Sweeney's story. I expected to discover honor, truth, humility and a bit of sadness within these pages. I did not expect to laugh so hard it made my sides ache. Jack Sweeney was clearly an amazing man -- and someone Emma can be proud to call her father. He lives on each time someone shares his story.
March 15, 2019
This is the third time I've read this book and I still love it. Makes me laugh and cry every single time.
November 23, 2019
1-1/2 stars. A woman discovers the father she never knew in a series of letters he wrote to her mother during their courtship.
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January 8, 2020Letters written from a soldier in the war to his love at home. The book was written by his daughter that he never met. I love books revolving around letters! Nice story watching the love develop.
May 1, 2020
Sweet, short account of a man who loved his wife so well.
July 8, 2020
Trolling through the shelves in an East Montgomery, AL public library and stumbled on this little treasure. Spent 20 years flying Naval Air. The posted reviews are spot on.
January 27, 2021
3 stars
A nice story, but ultimately not very memorable.
A nice story, but ultimately not very memorable.
June 18, 2021
I loved this book! It was heartwarming and sweet.
November 15, 2023
This one grew on me. What a comfort to know just a bit of how very much your father loved your mother.
December 27, 2022
What a beautiful book to share with the world. Thank you for sharing something so personal. What a fun love story.
July 12, 2012
As Always, Jack by Emma Sweeney is an epistolary memoir in that letters from Sweeney’s father to her mother are shared with several sections of explanation from Sweeney, herself. After just 11 days together, Jack and her mother corresponded for a year and a half through letters as he went off to help stabilize the Pacific following WWII. He wrote 45 letters to her mother over seven months in a oddball courtship that showcase her father’s wit and humor as well as his constant devotion.
In many ways the correspondence allowed the young lovers to get to know one another more intimately without the awkward face-to-face interactions. They learned about their religious beliefs and their thoughts on infidelity when she tells Jack of her boss’ infidelity with one of the dental assistants. Emma found her father’s letters to her mother after her mother’s death in the back of a drawer, but she never knew him in person as he died before she was born.
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/07/a...
In many ways the correspondence allowed the young lovers to get to know one another more intimately without the awkward face-to-face interactions. They learned about their religious beliefs and their thoughts on infidelity when she tells Jack of her boss’ infidelity with one of the dental assistants. Emma found her father’s letters to her mother after her mother’s death in the back of a drawer, but she never knew him in person as he died before she was born.
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/07/a...
April 3, 2013
Emma Sweeney never knew her father, Jack, who shared a whirlwind romance with her mother via letters while stationed in the Pacific just after WWII. Jack died during a Navy flight before Emma was born. So as an adult Emma sought to learn more about the father she had never met. Here she shares his love letters to her mother, written after they had briefly met and were then separated for many months before marrying.
Not a book to take the world by storm, but the letters are terribly sweet! And the whole story is touching. Very quick to pick up and read. Recommended.
Not a book to take the world by storm, but the letters are terribly sweet! And the whole story is touching. Very quick to pick up and read. Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews