Verdi Gilbertson was born September 7, 1923 on a farm in Mandt Township near Milan and Montevideo, Minnesota. During his ninety one years he has been a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. He counts his family as the greatest accomplishment he and his wife Agnes have. In their family are four children, ten grandchildren and four great grandchildren. This collection includes stories of his days as a farm boy during the drought and Depression of the 1930s and details about his Norwegian ancestors who immigrated to America in 1868. Verdi was in the Army infantry and served over 170 days on the front lines while in France and Germany in 1944 and 1945. There are excerpts from many letters written home to his family during World War II. He tells about his many day to day inspirations and motivations as he works on many creative projects including woodcarving, knife making, model airplane building and YouTube videos. As a means of including the whole family in working with this book, there are several travel adventure stories contributed by his kids, grandkids, great grandkids and extended family members. His first book, Verdi received many favorable comments that are shared in this book including several comments from his son Keiths international students. Verdi lives in Montevideo, Minnesota and spends much of his time working in his writing and woodcarving studio. This is his second book. Verdi was published in 2010.