Unlike most war stories, this is a uniquely intimate memoir that interweaves the story of a young mans life-affirming childhood on a California ranch with shattering frontline combat experiences in Germany during the last 42 days of World War II. Through a young boys eyes, the formative impact of parents in love, life and death on a working ranch, strange relatives, loss of friends in the Japanese relocation, and first loves are reported with the same intensity as when they were first absorbed, unknowingly, as emotional preparation for survival on a battlefield. As an 18-year-old radio operator and trained sniper with the 86th Blackhawk Division, he kills his first German soldier, learns to hit and run with Patton, is surrounded and rescued, takes prisoners, lives with the threat of a bullet in the back from a friendly enemy, strays into the horror of Dachau, and finds love in a French hospital.