GI Joe & Lillie: Remembering a Life of Love and Loyalty

by Joseph S. Bonsall

Overview

In the early morning hours of June 6, tens of thousands of boys from the shores of Maine, the rivers of Mississippi, and the lakes of Minnesota were taking a boat ride that would go down in history. With the ocean spray in their faces and hearts practically beating out of their chests, American G.I.s peers through the mist and saw the beaches of France. The Allied invasion of Hitlers Europe was on!

A skinny kid from Philly checked his rifle for the umpteenth time and swallowed hard. A strip of beach codenamed Utah lay just ahead....

The 1944 D-Day landings preserved freedom all over the world and affected countless individual lives including G.I. Joe and his wife, Lillie.

After the war, G.I. Joe and Lillie settled into a life that included two children. Old wounds, though, never quite let G.I. Joe leave France. Nightmares and crippling injuries left him with only one true friend, but she was all he'd ever need.

Lillie embarked on a decades-long love affair, from the moment she saw that skinny boy from Philly in an army hospital. Five days of courtship and 55 years of marriage strengthened by faith saw to that. Lillie prayed daily for her husband and children in the difficult years ahead. Together, they made it all the way home.

In Lillie's America, it was sacrifice that preserved cherished freedoms, and loyalty kept families united and strong. Lillie's steadfast faith and heartfelt devotion is a lesson for our time.

This story of patriotism, bravery abroad and at home, and most of all, deep commitment, sets in a gold frame the very essence of America. The story of G.I. Joe and Lillie helps us all remember that true love never, ever dies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614580133
Publisher:	New Leaf Publishing Group, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	519,107
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

The public knows Joe Bonsall as a thirty-year member of the American music group, “The Oak Ridge Boys.” He is the energetic one on the end singing the high harmonies and lead vocals on such songs as Elvira, I Guess It Never Hurts To Hurt Sometime, Love Song, as well as other Oaks’ standards such as Fall To Fly, My Son, and Dancin’ The Night Away. He joined the Oaks in 1973. As with the other group members, much of his time is spent on the road performing, but Joe has found his own way to get the maximum possible enjoyment out of touring.

Joe is also an avid songwriter and successful author. His critically acclaimed Molly The Cat book series (Ideal Children’s books, 1997) as well as his many published articles have established him as a talented and appreciated author. In 2003, New Leaf Press published G. I. Joe and Lillie: Remembering a Life of Love and Loyalty, an inspirational biography Joe penned about his parents. His song by the same name was included in the Oaks' Colors album, which was released the same year. Joe subsequently wrote the title song to The Journey album and the text for the Oaks’ coffee table book, An American Journey. New Leaf also publishes his Christmas family book, An Inconvenient Christmas.

For relaxation, Joe retreats to his farm on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line and can often be found on his John Deere tractor mowing part of his 350-acres — or sitting on his front porch and playing his banjo!

“My life is really pretty simple,” says the Oak who is the principal spokesman on stage. “I go out there and try to sing the best I can and give them physically and mentally every single thing I’ve got. When it’s done, I go back to my room, call home, eat my pizza or sushi, get on my Apple laptop, watch the sports scores and say to myself, ‘Hey, I’ve done what I’m supposed to be doin’ and I feel great about it.’”

Joe has two daughters, Jennifer and Sabrina, and two grandchildren, Breanne and Luke. He and Mary also have eight cats, Sunny, Molly, Sally Ann, Ted, Baybe', Blackie, Callie and LT.