After World War II and in the following years of the fifties and sixties In Western Europe, the desire to go to America was in the heart of many kids my age. The gratitude and admiration we had for the Americans who had come and sacrificed much to restore our freedom had taken enormous proportions.
Our parents had fought side by side with the Americans, they had been exposed to the music and the style of a country filled with hope and opportunities.
As children being raised in this atmosphere, we had learned to love all of it and we lived our lives trying to live up the image we had made ourselves of America. We constantly emulated the silver screen heroes, the TV characters of the few programs that made it to England and the stories told in the great American films, in which heroism, honor and value had become greater than life.
Our imagination was so prolific and our resourcefulness so amazing that our adventures took epic proportions and our exploits filled the annals of the village where we lived.
We wanted to look American, act American, portray the glory and power of America and eventually leave to come to this great country and fulfill our dream of becoming real Americans.
This is the story of five inseparable kids who met when they were six years old and who spent 12 years pursuing that dream while growing up with all the love, trials and pains life brings. Tragically, of all five, I am the only one who made it.
This is our story.
P.I.McKENZIE
THE BOOK
All the photographs are pertinent to the story...
