Prose Idyls by John Albee (1892)

Hub Smith, in his youthful innocence, looks on his draft into the U.S. Army in World War II as an escape from an unhappy life-even though he brought those conditions upon himself. In a disastrous attempt to rescue American prisoners of war from a German camp, Hub is rescued by a simple-minded German girl and her uncle. Instead of trying to escape as it is his duty to do, Hub remains in hiding until American forces liberate the village. When he returns to the United States, it is to a wife who seems like a stranger. Laura, his wife, has an incurable infirmity. At the insistence of his wife and family, Hub enrolls in college. There he meets Nancy, the love of his life. How Hub deals with the conflicts of duty and desire, and the people he meets along the way, make this story worth reading.