Summary of Henry Langrehr & Jim DeFelice's Whatever It Took

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 My childhood was typical for the middle class in America during the 1920s and 1930s. I was born in Iowa in 1924, and grew up with cars, buses, and trucks, but people would still walk a mile or two or four to get around. TV hadn’t been invented yet, and forget about computers or the internet. #2 I had a nickname as a kid, Heinie, which was a shortened version of Heinrich, a very common German name. I inherited it. My father was a farmhand, and we lived in a small house on the farm. We had chores even when young. #3 The Great Depression began for my family with a local bank failure. My father’s savings were wiped out, and jobs suddenly became hard to find. We lived in a tent for one summer to save on rent. #4 My family had a lot of problems during the Great Depression, but we always seemed to end up near the railroad tracks. I played baseball when I could, but as I grew older, I had more work responsibilities. I never drank much, because I was afraid of what alcohol could do to me.