Thump, thump, thump. Italos feet pounded the ground as he ran farther and farther away. It wasnt a friend he was running from, as though he were playing an innocent game of tag. No, six-year-old Italo Recine experienced something more frightening than any six-year-old should ever have to. Thump, thump, thump, he ran faster and faster toward the safety of the caves. It was the bombs he was running from . . . the bombs from the Germans during World War II. Five years of hard work in the hot Italian sun and a twelve-day journey across the Atlantic later, Italo arrives in Americaa land thought of as a better world. But would this better world be free of the battles and struggles he faced as a child? Would this new life be all he had dreamed of? Was there truly anything for him in America? In this tale of trial and triumph, a man is tested by the ruthless elements so prevalent to this world. This is his story. It is with struggle that we realize our greatest potential. Nothing worth having is ever so easily handed to us.