AFTER DISCOVERING HER FATHER'S WAR DIARY, a young girl begins the lifelong journey of understanding how his brutal and miraculous war experience shaped their family and faith while bringing new insight to one of the most ambitious and secretive war missions of World War II. MERRILL'S MARAUDERS became the 172nd recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal since George Washington. The text of the diary is included.

She understood that her father had been to war and that he did not speak of it, but it was not until adulthood that she came to understand the way his war experiences and PTSD both created and shaped their family. If he had not joined, he would never have met her mother: if he had not volunteered for the "hazardous and dangerous" secret mission that would make him a Marauder, would he have fulfilled his duty to his country? And yet, his time in the Burmese jungle left him with a tiger he took home - one that reared its head rarely but impacted his family and Linda each time.

Because of his miraculous survival, Larry Stephenson worked actively in his community upon his return, serving as the Director of Civil Defense for Calcasieu Parish. After watching the destruction wracked by Hurricane Audrey from her family's picture window, Linda witnessed her father and others step up and serve those whose lives had been ended and upended in its wake. Her family's faith and dedication to others shaped Linda's experience and upbringing, and she hopes to bring some of the wisdom and insight her parents and their love brought to her, to others.

Her writing career has been dedicated to exploring, with the help of research, interviews, and the insight of experience, the ways love, faith, and trauma build and challenge individuals, relationships, and communities.