INTRODUCTION

These are the true-life adventures and experiences of Joseph and Vera

Buck who lived and worked in Cuba from 1917 through 1922.

Joseph F. Buck, my grandfather, was appointed to a Consular position in

Cuba, March of 1917, after having served as the U.S. Consul to

Bremerhaven, Germany for five years.

This story begins as his pretty, young bride of three months, Vera

Elizabeth Buck, my grandmother, joins him in Antilla, Cuba, January of

1919. They kept an excellent journal of all their experiences while they

were in Cuba, and, at some point, Vera, I am sure with Josephs help,

began converting their records into an historical narrative for posterity. She

turned a rough, unfinished draft of her work over to the University of

Michigan, Bentley Library, sometime in the 1960s. In a brilliant, far-sighted

move, my grandmother stipulated that the copyrights remain in the family

in regards to everything she donated to this library. I am her only

grandchild and am therefore able to bring these valuable, historic accounts

to light for the first time.

Meanwhile, my grandfather, Joseph F. Buck, had died of tuberculosis,

September 14th, 1942, three years before I was born. My mother died six

months after I was born and my grandmother, the author of this book,

passed away in 1971 without ever telling me anything about it at all. The

reason for this miscommunication was that I was raised 800 miles away

from my grandmother and, unfortunately, not able to get to know her until

she was in her seventies. I stumbled upon the rough draft of this book

purely by the Grace of God while I was doing research on Joseph F. Buck,

my grandfather, for a future book of his WWI experiences. All the places,

dates, events, presidents, buildings, wildlife, boats, railroads, etc., have

been researched and verified to the best of my ability and footnoted

accordingly. The tales of Nico and Giva are both based upon factual history

as supported by Joseph Bucks filed reports with the State Department,

now on record in the National Archives, College Park, Maryland.

Our family project that was started by my grandparents eighty five years

ago (this being the year 2002) has now been completed! This has truly been

a labor of love and I will advise anyone who is contemplating doing

something like this to go ahead and give it a try, even though it can be

pretty tough going at times. To complete a family project for your loved

ones who died before they were able to finish it, has got to be one of the

most rewarding things in life any one of us could ever hope to accomplish.

Acknowledgments and gratitude must also be expressed to the White

Pine Village, Ludington, Michigan for preserving my grandparents records

documents and articles for all these years that my grandparents had

donated to the Mason County Historical Society, and for all their kind,

invaluable assistance and support.

You will notice throughout the book that Joseph refers to Vera as

Julie. Why? Because my grandparents were both very romantic, so

during their long engagement necessitated by WWI, they had to make do

with a whole lot of letter writing back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean.

They referred to each other as Romie and Julie (Romeo and Juliet) to

help keep romance alive throughout this long ordeal. My grandfather cared

so deeply for my grandmother that the pet name, Julie, stuck even after

they were married in 1918. Vera certainly didnt mind as she felt the same

way about him and their house was a house of love, indeed! I plan on

publishing a series of some of those letters at a later date along with my

grandfathers experiences from...