This first book by the author describes history in the making. It is a first hand account of a man's journey from adolescence into the life and death realities of World War II. As a member of the First Special Service Force -- a unique international commando unit later nicknamed The Devil's Brigade -- the author experience the war from unusual angles. His various wartime travels took him to locales as different as the Aleutians and the Atlas Mountains, and ultimately to Italy and southern France. The author's "baptism of fire" included the siege of LaDifensa, the landing at Anzio, the hard-fought road to Rome, and the French Riviera. His tale is a compelling one, of high adventure and the camaraderie of youth, of tragedy and triumph, of the near misses that only a survivor can tell about -- all of it told from the perspective of age.