The One in Charge - The true story of Al Taylor who was a homeless youth during the Great Depression. He lied about his age to join the Army at 16 so he could have room and board. Two years later, he was the young medic they put in charge of triage after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
Barbed Wire Wings - John Gualtier was a medic on the front lines in Europe. He liberated a concentration camp and as he tried to feed a Jewish prisoner, the man died in his arms. John came home with PTSD and attempted suicide twice and failed. He got the help he needed and still speaks to veterans and students today. He is credited for saving lives telling his story.
My Guardian Angel - Eva Apathy's was born in Hungary. Her father left before she was born and her mother died when she was two. No one in the family would commit to caring for this beautiful orphan girl. She met and married the love of her life who was a doctor treating the wounded in Germany during the war. Survival during their wartime experience was nothing short of a miracle. Eva told her young author and illustrator that she felt she had a Guardian Angel throughout her life.
Marion Blumenthal Lazan was a young girl when her Jewish family was taken to a concentration camp. The game she played was trying to find four pebbles each day, one for each member of her family. If she found the four rocks, it meant her entire family would survive the horrors of the Holocaust. This game gave her hope each day which is why her young author titled his book Never Lose Hope.
Inge Auerbacher was a little girl with a doll under her arm when she arrived at the gate of a concentration camp. The guard ripped her doll's head off to check for valuables and gave her the doll back in two pieces. A kind person inside the camp, used valuable thread to sew the head back on. This doll inspired young Inge to not give up when she was deathly ill. When the war was over, young Inge walked through the same gate with her doll in her arms. A story of perseverance and hope.
Owen Lovejoy was a minister, an abolitionist, a conductor on the
Underground Railroad and a congressman. As a young man, he
witnessed the brutal murder of his brother for being an abolitionist.
This drove Owen to become even more passionate about ending
slavery. He became friends with President Abraham Lincoln and
made a powerful difference in his home state and in Washington
D.C.
Jesse Crawford was a small-town boy who went to war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a tank mechanic who saw the horrors of a Nazi work camp. There, he learned the only crime the prisoners committed was being Jewish. After the war, an act of kindness for a European child gave Jesse a sense of normalcy. He gave her parents a piece of leather to make shoes so she could play outside.
Harold was a young boy whose wise Jewish parents knew they must hide to survive the war. They made arrangements with a farmer for their family of five to hide under the floor of their barn until the war ended. They called their hiding place the "grub" which means grave in Yiddish. Over nineteen months later they learned the war was coming to an end and it was safe to come out. They hadn't used their legs in so long, Harold couldn't walk and his mom could only crawl away.
Pete the horse was for sale. He was older and had a swayed back, so he appeared ready to be put out to pasture. But, Karen Angotti saw the promise in him as a therapy horse for Rainbow Riders Therapeutic Horseback Riding Center. Pete proved her right and became a hero to the children with disabilities who came there to learn how to ride horses. Pete may not have looked perfect, but he had a big heart and he became the backbone of the riding program.
Ralph Smith was an American soldier serving in Europe during WWII. Many men died in the Battle of the Bulge, and Ralph was in charge of taking their bodies to friendly soil for a proper burial. When the war ended, his unit was assigned to guard something valuable in a big castle in Germany. Ralph learned it was famous art worth millions. It was stolen by the Nazis and recovered by the Monuments Men.