Fifty years ago, a young girl opened a cardboard box in her basement. Long forgotten, it contained her father's World War II uniform, vintage photos, semaphore flags, and other WWII keepsakes. The box opened up a world of pain and joy to author Barbara Eymann Mohrman as she set out on a personal journey to trace her family history and inadvertently, unspoken Eymann family secrets. This is the story of hard-scrabble life in rural Oakdale, Nebraska (population 851) starting in the heyday of the 1920s. Chriss Eymann, a newly arrived Swiss immigrant and his wife, Hattie Mae, raised ten children on the Dust Bowl-ravaged plains during the 1930s in the depths of the Great Depression. But their greatest sacrifice was yet to come-when they sent four young sons off to war in the South Pacific and Europe. The mother's flag with its four blue stars proudly displayed the family's precious contribution to the war effort. The story traces in detail and vintage photos from 1930 to 1947 the anguish, danger, and their everlasting hope with some surprising family news that brings the story full circle.

Dorie Archer's carefree childhood days became filled with darkness-no fresh air, no sunshine, no rain, no work for the farmers, and no money. Dorie's gripping story brings to life the everyday activities of a Nebraska girl and her family during the Dust Bowl as they struggled to survive the enormous challenges of one of the most trying times in Nebraska history. Excerpt: The wind began to swirl around them and pick up in intensity. The cloud cast a veil over them as thick as pea soup. Soon the sun was completely blotted out by its murkiness. The light had turned into total darkness that Sunday afternoon. Imprisoned within the swirling, blinding wind, the children could feel particles of dust blast their faces sharply as they frantically covered their mouths and eyes with their arms and hands. It was no use. The dust filled their mouths with grit and stung their eyes. It coated their teeth and tongue and caused them to cough, sputter, and struggle for air.