All for the Cause

Distant thunder rolled as Mr. Olsen poured coffee for his customers, and comments crackled like popcorn.

“Surrender?”

“Unconditional, he said. Who woulda thought...”

“Sure ain’t lookin’ good.”

“Sure hate to think of  ‘em bein’ prisoners.”

“Ain’t Howard Hannam’s son over there?”

“Yeah, and my brother’s boy. Sure hope MacArthur keeps his promise to rescue them fellas.”

The news was grim in May 1942. The Philippines had fallen to the Imperial Japanese Army. Rommel is on the move in Northern Africa. The Russian Army is pushed back toward Stalingrad. In the sweltering jungles of Corregidor, PFC Stan Ford battles illness and injury as he and his comrades escape and evade a tenacious enemy. And in the Heartland, women mourn the loss of husbands, sons, and sweethearts.

While everyone else seems to be doing something to support the troops, Twila Brunner feels lost, and useless. But when she sees a newspaper article about a Prisoner of War camp being built in neighboring Algona, Iowa, she believes she has finally discovered a way to to give something for the Cause.