September 15, 1924 was a special day for Johann and Elizabeth Hauck when their baby was born at Gasthaus Zum Drei Linden (The Inn of the Three Linden) in Trundstadt, Germany. Paul was their second son and he became like a shadow to Albin, his older brother. Albin often lead the way, even chasing away mean dogs and bullies. Paul's father, whom he called Pop, liked to laugh and entertain. When Paul learned to play the piano, Pop would play the violin. Sometimes Pop acted goofy by placing the violin on his head to play. Pop would do anything to make Paul laugh. Soon, baby sister Charlotte was...

Alvis M. Taylor was born on March 18, 1923 in Caldwell, Texas. His mother worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). His father, William, worked odd jobs, including owning a restaurant, where ten-year-old Alvis worked as a cook alongside him. He became famous in Caldwell because he was a bootlegger (someone who makes and sells moonshine whiskey illegally). He was arrested and sentenced to six months in jail. The children in the Taylor family grew up during the Great Depression. It was a time when there were not enough jobs for the men or enough food to eat for the families. Al...

Dorothy was born on July 16, 1923 in Sand Point, Idaho. Her parents, Joseph and Florence Teal, had moved to Idaho from Illinois. Her father, Joseph Teal, wanted to be a farmer but didn't have the land. Instead, he took a job managing a grain elevator in central Illinois. To better his family, he invested in a resort on a lake in Idaho. When he arrived in Idaho with his wife and children, he discovered that he had been swindled out of his money and that there was no resort. Joseph bought a boat and began delivering freight across the lake to make a living. This was during prohibition, and...

Henry Langrehr was born in Clinton, Iowa on November 4, 1924. He was raised during the Great Depression and wasn't old enough to serve when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Before his 18th birthday, he quit high school to defend his country and asked Arlene Ketelsen to marry him. They decided to wait until he came back from the war. Being a paratrooper paid $50 per month more, and as part of the 82nd Airborne Division, Henry was one of 16,000 men who parachuted into France early in the morning of June 6, 1944. He weighed 150 pounds and had that much weight in material strapped to his back. The men...

Reed Robertson was born on August 19, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a city rich in American history. Reed's Scottish grandfather, Robert Reed Robertson, was the architect who set the famous statue of its founder, William Penn, on top of city hall. Before this 37-foot-high bronze statue was installed, the architect's daughters walked around the hat's brim while it was separate and standing on the ground. His father Herbert lost his job during the Great Depression. He moved his family and started two new businesses, but they failed too. After Herbert's business failures and the girls'...

During World War II, Ralph Troll was a small boy living with his parents in Darmstadt, Germany. Their city was known as Wissenschaftsstadt (City of Science). Ralph's mother was Jewish so, in 1938, his father moved his family to an isolated farm about ten miles from the Rhine River. His father hoped to escape Nazi persecution. He knew it was a threat to his wife. His father was a chemist and continued his work, even though his laboratory had been bombed. To escape the Allied bombs, Ralph, his parents, and his baby sister often spent nights in the cellar of the farmhouse or days in nearby...

I was born in the Bronx New York City] in 1923, the youngest of a family of four boys and one girl. My parents were both European Jews, leaving their families and coming to America, "Die Goldene Medina" a Yiddish expression of admiration for America], to escape the pogroms a violent riot or massacre aimed at Jewish people] and other forms of anti-Semitism of the Old Country. I was raised during the Great Depression. Everyone who could worked to bring home money to support our family. My father started a business called "Schiff Beverages," and we made flavored soda pop. I turned 20 when I...