Destination Unknown – Adventures of a WWII American Red Cross Girl
LeOna Kriesel (Cox) answered the call of duty and marched straight into World War II. She was an American Red Cross girl who ran social clubs for enlisted men in North Africa and Italy, from 1943 - 1945.
A plucky adventurer, LeOna tells of her beloved GIs and their exploits. She tells of boarding a troop ship with 1,300 soldiers and 400 women Red Cross girls and nurses, none with any idea of where they were headed. After dancing her way across the Atlantic Ocean for fourteen days, LeOna couldn't believe her eyes as the ship slowly pulled into the exotic port of 1943 Casablanca! Camels, Arabs and all.
The adventure of a lifetime had begun!
LeOna's personal correspondence tells the story of war from the backside.
About Kathleen Cox (Cincinnati, Ohio Author)
Kathleen Cox is a writer, speaker and event producer.
She has been a Pan Am stewardess, Arabian horse breeder, marketing consultant, publicist, and the creator/director of equestrian theatrical productions.
Kathleen lives in Northern Kentucky.
About LeOna Kriesel (Co-Author)
LeOna Kriesel (Cox) was a business teacher at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, when duty called and she joined World War II as an American Red Cross Girl.
In Algiers, Algeria, as LeOna ran Red Cross social clubs for enlisted men, she met Captain John Cox. The two were married in Rome, 1944 and spent the next 52 years together. They had a daughter, Kathleen Cox.
LeOna continued her teaching career when Kathleen entered school and was invited to become a member of National Teacher's Honorary Society, Delta Kappa Gamma.
She never forgot her Red Cross days and Pope Pius XII probably never forgot LeOna.