Jodi Engle

No Shoes in the Summer Jodi Engle

No Shoes in the Summer is a poignant and heartbreaking story of one family's struggle to survive during some of the most difficult times in modern history. Alfred Engle was born in 1898 and put to work in the coal mines of southern Iowa by his cruel father when he was only eight years old. His childhood was difficult but his luck seemed to have changed when he met Mable Stevens at eighteen years of age. While courting her, he realized her childhood was as tragic as his own. They soon married and vowed to raise their children in a loving and stable home. However, the depression sunk the entire world into bleak and difficult times and providing for their six boys seemed like an insurmountable task. Alfred even traveled the countryside on weekends to follow the carnival so he could fight the professional wrestlers for extra money. When they didn't think things could get any worse, the country was suddenly plunged into WWII and their three oldest boys were shipped overseas. Keith stormed Normandy on D-day and helped hold the Germans back at the Battle of the Bulge. Vernon joined the Paratroopers in the Philippines and came face to face with a suicidal enemy that had been ordered to die for their emperor. Bob was sent to Japan and then on to Korea. The book follows the older boys through the war and tells of their harrowing life and death experiences while the family that loved them waited for news of the sons they loved, facing their own battles to survive during the depression.