by Ralph Riley

This is a story about a young man who comes to maturity and wisdom during the Great Depression and WWII. It is a true account of a man growing up in a large, loving family, struggling for his own identity, and at the same time taking on tremendous responsibility at an early age; always putting his siblings and parents first.

It is an account of his own memories and his recollections of his elders' tales. It takes place during the 20's 30's and 40's, the time of, to paraphrase a popular book, the 'Great Generation'. It is a tale of courage, tenacity, strength and humour.

The reader is taken from the sooty atmosphere of a pre-depression logging town in Washington state, along frozen dog sled tracks on trapping lines in Alaska, to the bloody beaches of the South Pacific in WWII. There are stories of commercial fishing on the unforgiving seas of Alaska's waters, trapping beaver and fox for furs in the interior of Alaska, logging in the Pacific North West, and unimaginable horrors of war. There is a love of life, adventure and fellow man throughout the story, a well told journey by the man that lived it.