For You, Lili Marlene: A Memoir of World War II

In this touching sequel to Crunching Gravel: A Wisconsin Boyhood, the poet recalls his search for self-knowledge and sexual identity as a young draftee in WWII. A gentle lad who grew up in a sheltered farm environment, he had to learn how to cope with emerging homosexual feelings while dealing with the supermacho culture of the barracks. He was assigned to the European theater of operations as a clerk, and his only combat experience was his own inner wrestling with sexual fantasies involving both genders. Wondering if God were somehow testing him, he refrained from homosexual relations despite the pressure from fellow GIs who flirted with him. On leave in Paris, he shared a female prostitute with a sergeant he secretly desired and later drifted into an awkward affair with a German woman while on occupation duty near Heidelberg. The highlight of his European hitch was his attendance at one of Marlene Dietrich's more memorable concerts: ``I loved this androgyne.'' This elegantly written memoir has much to say about the relationship between sex and the military life. Photos. (Dec.)