In 1929, a boy was born whose family would soon feel some of the calamitous problems incurred by the Great Depression, which began soon after the boy's birth. Responding to little more than the primitive instinct of survival required during these times, this is a story relating this boy's reminiscence of this period. His story is followed through the years of the depression and into his later boyhood, and is a narrative of his and his family's survival and resilience, causing the family of ten children the hardship of moving from place to place numerous times, twenty-four, seeking work where it was most available for the head of the family, whose occupation was a sign painter. It is a true story, inherent of the boy's experiences, reminisced in a manner that brings the reader in close proximity to the books main characters. However, intertwined between hardships of the bad times of the depression, the boy was able to bring out uplifting humor during his years relating to the story, years up to his nineteenth birthday, when he joined the U. S. Navy and ventured into years then nearly devoid of the depression

This is a story written with a setting soon after the Armistice was signed for the Korean War, entitled Journey of USS Gunston Hall APD 5. It is a narration by an ex-sailor who relates the activity of the Gunston Hall APD 5 at this time, a ship he served on during this era. Fortunately, the author of this story had been previously advised by his school teacher, "If any of you ever have the opportunity to travel in the future, make it imperative to keep a journal or diary. If you don't, you will regret it in years to come. Without such written information, your recollection of the past might be no better than a flight of birds through the air, leaving no trace." He remembered these important words when he joined the US Navy, and the first ship he boarded there was a journal and diary book in his sea bag. He learned some sixty years later when writing this narration that it perhaps would not have been written without the help of his journal. Memory is often good of events years later, but time fades away memory, which often is somewhat diminished. Soon after the Korean War Armistice was signed the Gunston Hall was sent to an island, Koje-do, south of South Korea to transport North Korean prisoners from a large prison camp there to places to be repatriated back home. This story brings forth many problems within the prison where murders and killings were executed, but unable for the United Nations to adequately maintain control of the overall prison operation. Having 3,000 to 5,000 North Korean and Communist primers aboard the Gunston Hall at one time during their transportation was some concern to the crew, as they outnumbered its crew number by over 10 to 1. It is an interesting story, one that is intriguing to see out fold.