Book excerpt: Sixteen-year-old twins, Frank, Jr. and Gerry wanted to help their mother make ends meet after their father became estranged from their Boston family. The year was 1942; America was at war in Europe and the South Pacific. The twins saw the chance to earn military pay to send back home to Mom. There was one problem. The minimum age for enlistment in the United States military was 17. Together they hatched a plan to enlist. Gerald is accepted into the US Navy. Frank finds a way into the US Coast Guard. These are Franks stories, sometimes funny, of the brave young men and women he served with until President Harry Truman announced the end of World War II on September 2, 1945.