Michael P. Gabriel, ’88, has published his fourth book, “Physician Soldier: The South Pacific Letters of Captain Fred Gabriel from the 39th Station Hospital.”
The book is a compilation of more than 300 letters that Gabriel’s father wrote to his family during World War II. The letters and approximately 50 accompanying photos provide a gold mine of information on the war, although the 39th Station Hospital saw only limited combat.
The vast majority of the letters and pictures cover from January 1944 to December 1945, when Gabriel was deployed to the South Pacific and was stationed on Guadalcanal, Angaur, and Saipan. The letters cover a range of topics, such as the varied responsibilities of medical officers and female nurses, a Bob Hope USO show, the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the end of the war in Europe, the atomic bomb, and growing frustration with the slow return of troops from the Pacific.
The alumnus is chair of the Department of History at Kutztown University.
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