To the Editor:
My thanks to Bruce Nelson and The Courier for the March 6 article “Brothers in Arms — The Halzack Boys.” The uncertainty, challenges and resolutions lived and faced in the past retain their power and resonance through Mr. Nelson’s empathetic reporting.
My heart twisted along with George and Julia Halzack’s as they awaited word of their son, Nick, after his crippled B-24 Liberator disappeared in 1944. As a parent myself, it is agonizing to imagine their pain upon receiving notice he had died — scratch that — was MIA. And what a joyful relief, even as a stranger 77 years later, to learn that — thank God — he survived! … And went on to marry, raise a family, and live on until 2005.
Also, what a poignant glimpse into a homesick soldier’s heart through Peter Halzack’s poem to his mother. How many young men and women over the centuries have felt much the same way in being separated from loved ones to fight for their countries?
Pete was an old man, still minding Halzack’s store, when Dave and I moved to Easton in 1990. I wish I’d known of the soldier, poet, and artist behind the man at the store. My thanks to Bruce Nelson and The Courier for these powerful insights into Easton’s people and past.
Lea Sylvestro
Easton
