For Christmas of 1988 my wife, Doris, and our children Ronn, Carolyn and Phyllis gave me a tape recorder in order that I might record my story of the war. So during the winter of 1989, I taped the story of my experiences of the time leading up to World War II and the time I spent as a Destroyer Escort Sonar Man in the Navy. My story ended up being 22 ninety-minute tapes.

Over the course of 4 months during the winter of 2011-12, Erma Akey, my sister-in-law, transcribed my story using these tapes. My daughter, Phyllis Akey Gregg and her husband, K.T. (Tom) Gregg, edited this story. Thanks go to Erma, Phyllis and Tom for the time they spent on my memoirs of WWII. Additional thanks goes to my granddaughter, Cynthia Kiesel, and her sister-in-law, Janet Kiesel, for designing and publishing this book.