H.C. “Doc” Goldsmith served in the U.S. Navy during the early 1930s. Never imagining a return to service, he willingly re-joined the Navy in the fight against the Axis powers after the invasion of Pearl Harbor. Discovered after his death in 2000 by his grandson, this book is a compilation of journals written in 1965 that described in vivid detail H.C.’s World War II experiences aboard the U.S.S. Sentinel, a minesweeper assigned to the European theater.

From air raids in North Africa and London to his ship sinking in the invasion of Sicily, H.C. describes his experiences with the simplicity and awe of a farm boy from Lewisville, Texas and the calmness of a Navy medic who helped his men survive the horrors of war.