A new chapter of Daphne’s story

Daphne Cavin’s story is perhaps the most memorable of all the stories I’ve been privileged to tell in my newspaper career.

Daphne shared her memories and her scrapbook documenting her brief marriage to a soldier who was killed in action in southern France in 1944. I wrote her story in February, 1998 and it took on a life of its own when Tom Brokaw’s researchers discovered it and included it in the best-selling “The Greatest Generation.” Brokaw put Daphne on the NBC Nightly News multiple times and she became something of a symbol of the sacrifice made by war widows. You can read what I wrote HERE.

Much of what Daphne told me that day in 1998 when she opened her scrapbook was completely unknown to her family – children she had with her second husband.

Now her daughter Nancy Cavin Pitts has published “When You Come Home,” a much more thorough and detailed memoir of Daphne’s journey.

At the moment, it’s only available as an e-book from Amazon.com. I have a copy on my iPod and have been asked to write a few lines to be included in future editions.

Several reviewers said Daphne’s is the most poignant of all of the stories in “The Greatest Generation.” I agree.

Daphne died last year at the age of 91.