Grandpa, Were You Scared?

"Stephanie has eloquently captured the intense experiences of a battle-tested marine on Guadalcanal. Learn how World War II made a youth a marine."

- Col. James A. Blakely Jr., USMC ret., friend of Angelo Sammartino for many years

"In this true account, the faith of the author's father withstood his combat experience in World War II and led him to the realization that people are people all over the world."

- Col. Samuel Boykin Hunter, retired, US Army

"Grandpa, were you scared?"

As soon as the words leave her mouth, eight-year-old Marianne realizes she has said the wrong thing. Grandpa never talks about his experiences in World War II, and the sudden silence makes her feel she has upset him. Then Grandpa starts to talk, and his story is both frightening and inspiring.

Grandpa, Were You Scared? deals with World War II in an honest but nongraphic manner. After seeing combat on Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, Grandpa witnessed the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. Weeks later, a chance encounter with an endangered toddler in the fishing village of Omadaka would change his outlook forever in this true, intergenerational story of conflict, courage, and reconciliation.