Over Here : A Young Boy's Journey Through World War II

"When I first arrived in this world in May of 1935, I was naked, wet, hungry, and broke. Almost immediately, within literal seconds of my arrival on scene, I was struck from behind by a person or persons unknown. Small wonder, I suppose, that I continued to have little use for Welcome Wagon for some years thereafter. And, I didn't even want to hear about some other dude's humble beginnings in, say, a deserted duck blind in the parched Dakota outback!" Thus begins the touching and humorous story of Ron Pataky and his younger brother, Gordon, a couple of depression-era boys irreverently tossed into the tumbling kaleidoscope of mid-1930s America, when easily-remembered melodies and the lyrics of love filled the radio airwaves, and when sole ownership of a one-dollar silver certificate actually meant something to the holder. Over the next ten years - including the "War Years" from 1941 to 1945 -- the boys would be shuttled from school to school (nine schools in all!) in no less than eight cities, and would exist in near-constant fear of a young, emotionally-unprepared father with a blazing temper and precious little in the way of self-control! The much-beloved brother Gordon would eventually commit suicide. This is Ron's story.