Searching for Harold: One Family's World War II Story in Letters

For a family separated by war but united through mail, what happens if the letters stop?

Some families carry a name no one fully explains. A box of letters passed down without instructions. A silence that settles at the edge of every war story. Searching for Harold is built from exactly that silence. When the author inherits his father's genealogical archives, he discovers a family waiting to be witnessed. Through letters written between 1934 and 1948, the Carletons and Wattses of the American South come fully to life, right up to the moment Harold Carleton, the youngest of nine siblings, stops writing.

Harold is in Europe with one of his brothers; another is in the jungles of the Pacific islands; one nephew is training pilots in Texas while another wants to leave school and join the fight.

At home, those left behind face a quieter battle against rationing, anxiety, and the suffocating weight of the unknown. The mailbox becomes a lifeline; it's the only link to the boys they love. Every letter feels like a victory; every silence, a haunting threat. Which will arrive next: the US Post Office with a treasured letter, or Western Union with a dreaded telegram?

Searching for Harold is a family history built from letters. It follows one extended family’s unforgettable true story of love, hope, and resilience, as ordinary life collides with the Second World War.

Inside, you will discover:

• Homefront Impacts: A deeply personal social history of wartime America, captured in daily letters
• Restored Legacies: Military biographies constructed from forgotten primary source archives
• The Soldier’s Voice: A powerful journey through World War II—from stateside training to theaters of war—told in the soldiers’ own words
• A Healed Past: How genealogy can be used to transform decades of silence and pain into reclaimed family history

Searching for Harold is the poignant, intimate portrait of a family caught in the crosswinds of history's greatest conflict, told through the letters that kept their hopes alive. Order your copy today.

• Firebird Book Awards 1st Place in 1) Biography/Historical, 2) War Nonfiction, 3) History/United States, 4) Best Thematic Exploration, 5) Historical Nonfiction, 6) Nonfiction (2026)