FOX Anchor Martha MacCallum Shares the Emotional True Story Behind Her Bestselling Book ‘Unknown Valor’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Martha MacCallum hasn't just been a popular FOX News anchor for the past 20 years, she's also a bestselling author. In 2020, the host of The Story With Martha MacCallum published her first book, Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima .

While there are many books about World War II out there, MacCallum's stands out for its personal take on the subject, as it uses the story of her mother's cousin, Harry Gray, who died at Iwo Jima at just 18, for an immersive look at the brave soldiers who fought in one of the War's most harrowing battles.

Martha MacCallum spoke to Woman's World about the emotional process of writing Unknown Valor and bringing history to life.

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MacCallum vividly remembers first learning about her mother's cousin's story. "When I was a teenager, my mom shared some letters that her cousin had written to his family from Iwo Jima and from when he was training in North Carolina at Camp Lejeune," she recalls. "I was so moved by this young man's letters, and of course I never had the opportunity to meet him."

Decades later, the family history stayed with her, "It just opened up this whole story to me, the people he mentioned in the letters and the people he met over there and how courageous, but scared, he was as a teenager in World War II."

She continues, "I decided in 2018 that I would write his story. As soon as I started writing it, I realized that I had to go all the way back to Pearl Harbor, because that was the motivation for so many of these young men to decide that they wanted to join the war effort in World War II."

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The intense research process behind the Martha MacCallum book

As soon as she had the idea for her book (which she wrote with military veteran and author Ronald J. Drez ) MacCallum dove into the research process. "I learned so much about the beginning of the US involvement in the war at Pearl Harbor, and I traced the story of eight men who were involved," she says. "I wanted to take it back to their hometowns and tell their stories until that pivotal moment when they all were on the same tiny eight-mile island in the middle of the South Pacific on Iwo Jima."

MacCallum even visited the battle site. "I had the opportunity to travel there to do research, which was quite an incredible experience," she says. One of the most surprising experiences she had during her research process was being able to meet people who knew her mother's cousin.

"It was an extraordinary experience for me," she says. "I ended up meeting two people who were with him when he was killed, which I never anticipated was even possible. I discovered a lot of things about his story that I was able to share with his sister, who's still alive, my aunt Nancy. I'm grateful for every step of the way."

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A passion for history

MacCallum's knowledge of World War II stories isn't limited to her book — it's also been a part of her work as an anchor. "The book made me so interested in World War II and veterans," she says. "I ended up covering the 75th anniversary five years ago of the Battle of Normandy in France, and I just got back from covering the 80th anniversary of that battle."

MacCallum also did a three-part series, The Final Journey , in which she traveled to Normandy with World War II veterans. "One of them just turned 100 and the other one is 97," she says. "It's been an honor to get to know them over the years, and to be able to be with them in Normandy was extraordinarily moving."

Ultimately, of all her accomplishments, MacCallum says that writing her book has been "one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life." The book has not only given her a new understanding of what her family went through during the War, it's also influenced her as an anchor and inspired countless readers.