About the author: Steven Carl Stanga was born in 1948 and is presently a Wal-Mart associate, living in rural Brookings, South Dakota. He has been married for 36 years and has two sons. If it weren't for his parents having the common sense to keep all of the letters that he wrote home while serving in the U.S. Navy, and further efforts on his own part to keep a fairly detailed personal journal and preserve these few incidents, most of his experiences in the Navy would have been blurred, inaccurate recollections at best. And many of them would have been lost completely. Part of every watch he stood in the service was spent scribbling in one of those faded green military logbooks, writing down the anecdotes of his day and recording the incidents that marked off the minutes of his life for four years. These letters and log-book entries form the backbone of this book, as they are rife with particulars that will carry the reader effortlessly back to a turbulent time and a different world. 

Image description: The cover illustration depicts a gentleman steering a boat. The top half of the cover is an image of a map, with the title and author's name printed on it.