The World War II experiences of a 34-year-old man drafted into the U.S. Navy in early 1944. Told in his own words, the story describes induction and boot camp, and then being assigned to an unfinished LST. They sail down the Mississippi, through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific, and into action in New Guinea and the Philippines. Among the missions are the invasions of Lingayen Gulf and Leyte Gulf. War's end finds the ship in the Philippines, from where they continue on to Tokyo.
While this is a war story, it is also a travelogue, as Seaman Greer took every opportunity to see and appreciate a world far from his previous experience as a farm boy and factory worker. He climbs a waterfall, talks with locals, laughs at a mahogany outhouse, tours Tokyo, and finally rides home on an aircraft carrier.