This book is an account of my life growing up in the mid-west, and my experiences in WWII, having the distinction and honor to serve with the men of the 249th Engineer Combat Battalion, Third Army. We pass this way but once in a lifetime. With that thought in mind, I chose events from my life that I felt were noteworthy, being generous with descriptive detail as the events were reconstructed. I did this so that future generations will have the opportunity to become acquainted not only with the events, but more importantly to flavor the environment surrounding the happenings.