Title: It’s Midnight in Berlin: A True Story of an American Girl in War Torn Berlin 1946-47
Author: Pat McMann Gilchrist
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 9781483688268
Pages: 196
Genre: Biography & Autobiography/General
Reviewed by: CC Thomas
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Author Pat McMann Gilchrist wrote the true story of a young girl sent to Berlin during World War II in this book, It’s Midnight in Berlin. Gilchrist begins on an innocent enough quest, one that countless young men and women took during this tumultuous time of US history. She longed to serve her country in the most patriotic way she could and wanted to see the world beyond the walls of her childhood home.
From the onset, you’ll be captured by the conversational tone of the book making Gilchrist seem like a good friend, as if she was sharing her story over coffee. While the tone makes the reading a pleasure, the story within the pages is quite captivating and charming. Other authors have written countless accounts of WWII personal narratives from this time period, but few told like this from the point of view of a woman. While a female soldier in modern times would scarcely raise an eyebrow, for a woman to travel across the world during a time of war was hair-raising, indeed. While Gilchrist didn’t serve in a military capacity, her tale as a civilian in the Office of Military Government (OMGUS) is still filled with stories that bring the war into a sharper focus. Most of us will never live lives of this type of daring adventure, even should there be another war, so even imagining some of the stories surrounding this time is hard. However, Gilchrist is just an ordinary person with an extraordinary sense of survival. She was a hard worker who wanted to make her world a better place and decided to take a risk in order to make dreams come true. It’s a rather unremarkable story yet told in a most remarkable way.
Gilchrist enters Berlin just after the war had ended and the environment she flew into was a true disaster in every way. Reading her first-hand account brings those days into sharp focus. While some of the accounts are sad and harrowing, much of Gilchrist’s story revolves around her love affair with a paratrooper, the man she would soon marry. If you’re expecting Gilchrist to settle down after marriage and become a proper, obedient wife, you couldn’t be more wrong. Her adventures continue and it’s fascinating to see this side of war told from a young female perspective. The focus is on the living, rather than the dying, and that aspect makes the story an enjoyable and enlightening read.
Especially fascinating are the photographs the book contains. Gilchrist looks just the way you would imagine—fun, adventuresome, and with a brilliant smile and sparkle in her eyes. While the reader doesn’t forget this is a true story, the pictures help to connect and remind us that real heroes did in fact endure during these times of war. We will likely never know their names because they quietly went about the business of living. Heroes don’t have to be the ones jumping out of airplanes or wielding guns. Often, they’re the ones who remind us why we must carry on and remind us that life is a beautiful blessing and the next adventure is just around the corner.
This book is definitely a page-turner and so all the better for keeping interest high and fostering curiosity and discovery.
