national events and are true.
Another inspiration for writing this book was the story of how another book was written. The
story of Sea Biscuit, the famous race horse. It was written a few years ago by a woman who
suffered from a debilitating form of fatigue. Despite her disability, she managed to write the
book as her energy levels allowed. The book became a wonderful film which I thoroughly
enjoyed. I am partially disabled and can relate to her situation because I often suffer from quite a
bit of fatigue myself. However, now that my kids have grown and moved out, I have the time
and no excuses for not writing down what I hope will be an educational and inspirational
experience for you.
Bill Edwards, January of 2012
Dedication: I dedicate this book to all the Soldiers and Americans that caused our nation to make
it through World War Two and helped free the world from evil. - Bill Edwards, 2012
Chapter One: The Time Before
My parents and I lived on the first floor of our home. Their names were Arthur and Liz. The
second floor had a large bedroom where my Grandmother Lou lived, another area that served as
a recreational and sewing room, and a huge walk-in storage closet loaded with mementos from
the lives of my parents and other relatives. I loved to go into that closet and dig through
everything. My parents were mildly annoyed by my curiosity-driven family history hunts into
their stuff, but I always managed to talk my way out of trouble by asking questions about some
of their favorite mementoes.
One day I was looking at a box of large, old photo albums and came across a smaller photo
album that read like a story. It belonged to my mother. The story began with her and a couple of
friends taking a scenic boat ride up the Hudson River to West Point. Each photo had a small
caption hand written underneath it and I could see she and her friends were having a great time.
When I asked Mom about it later, she said she was around fifteen at that time and on Spring
Break. The year was 1941. Liz and her friends planned to stay for several days at the home of a
friend of my grandparents. She had a really long and complicated Finnish name, so everyone in
the family just called her Pat and she was fine with that.
A look at the photos taken after they were back on dry land revealed that Pat’s house was a
garden style home with a lot of history. She was married to a man who taught at the West Point
Military Academy and the house might have been a perk of the job, my mother wasn’t sure about
that. Either way, the girls were having a terrific time. They visited the academy, went to see a
movie in town, did some shopping, had a couple of picnics enjoying the amazing view of the
Hudson River from the hills above, and met guys.
Liz took a shine to a boy named George. He was a cadet getting ready to graduate from West
Point. Pat’s husband introduced them while Liz was touring the academy and there was an
instant attraction. He was a few years older than she was, but my mom was always mature for
