In this, his second memoir, John B. Minnick recalls the boyhood experiences that prepared him to meet and survive the greatest challenge of his life-the bloody assault on Iwo Jima during World War II, where he lost his left forearm and hand. Whether competing as a championship runner in college, learning to shoot a rifle and plant an orchard on the family farm in Connecticut, roughing it in backyard tents with his three brothers, or just being a card-carrying member of the "Daredevil Club" as a young boy-the sum total of Minnick"s life experiences created the tough mindset needed to endure the rigors he would face as a Marine Corps platoon leader of machine gunners on three remote Pacific islands. Spanning the course of his century-long life, Minnick"s Wishing Stones and Rubber Ice offers the reader tales filled with courage, humor, and a rambunctious energy, revealing a man who is both emblematic of his times and yet unique among his peers. John B. Minnick is also the author of Chain of Thought: The Story of a World War II Marine (PublishAmerica, 2008).