Common Cause, Uncommon Courage: World War II and the Home Front in Cambridge, Massachusetts is now available at the Cambridge Historical Commission office (831 Massachusetts Avenue) and in several local bookstores. The price is $25.00 per copy ($20 for seniors 65+); payment can be made by check or cash. Additionally, the book can be ordered by mail.
Download order form and instructions.

WORLD WAR II ORAL HISTORY BOOK PUBLISHED

The Historical Commission is pleased to announce the publication of its latest oral history: Common Cause, Uncommon Courage: World War II and the Home Front in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This latest oral history publication is the product of a four-year effort to record the experiences of more than 125 Cambridge veterans and home front participants. These recollections are told by soldiers in combat, nurses in hospitals in Europe and the Pacific, women who worked at the Charlestown Navy Yard and other defense industries, and servicemen’s families who waited for loved ones to come home. Five POWs, a Holocaust survivor, and an Italian Jewish refugee tell stories of uncommon courage and determination to persevere and survive in extraordinary circumstances. A narrative of the war in the European and Pacific Theaters accompanies the oral histories, and more than 250 photographs, some from the National Archives and FDR Library, are included as well.

Available at the Historical Commission office for $25 ($20 for seniors 65+) and at local booksellers.Call Sarah Boyer at 617-349-6171 for more information. Download order form here.

Also check out the website for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

If you would like to learn more about the project, please contact Sarah Boyer:

Sarah Boyer
Oral History Project Coordinator
Cambridge Historical Commission
831 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd Floor
Telephone: (617) 349-6171 or
TTY: (617) 349-6112
e-mail: sboyer@cambridgema.gov