Myrl Thompson (or “Grandpa Myrl”) spent his boyhood summers with his German immigrant grandparents on the banks of Ryan Creek in western Michigan. As he played in those wetlands by the hour, he came to love the bullfrogs, lily pads, and even horseflies that made the creek their home.
A mechanical engineer and amateur author/illustrator, Grandpa Myrl wrote “Skinny Little Frog” in 1972 to encourage his own children to eat. Now his children, fully grown, share this family treasure with you. Other books by Mr. Thompson include “Willy and Wilma Whiner”, PT Boat 81: Still on Nightmare Patrol”, and “The Last 100 Years: Stories of Life on the Farm”.
Myrl Thompson, author of “PT Boat 81: Still on WWII Nightmare Patrol”
• “Climbing Memory Mountain”
• “Farm Life: The Last 100 Years”
Children’s books
• “Skinny Little Frog”
• “Willy and Wilma Whiner”
• “Santa Clause at the Dance”.
Veteran/Author
World War II Navy Veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Milt Rackham, chronicles the years he spent peering down the sights of a PT boat’s big guns during World War II. These stories, along with others of ground action he experienced, offer a unique glimpse into a hell that those who have never known combat can scarcely imagine; moments when life and death collide, separated only by capricious fate, the trajectory of a bullet, a shard of shrapnel.
These are not easy stories to tell. It’s only now, more than three quarters of a century later, that Rackham can bring himself to talk about them at all.
While working on the project, his co-author Myrl Thompson discovered that Rackham had applied for VA benefits several times beginning in 1972, and been repeatedly denied due to a “lack of information”. He had stopped trying when he discovered that his military records were lost in a fire at the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis MO in 1973.
As a result of writing this book, Milt found the courage to make one last request and finally ended up receiving a partial monthly benefit at the age of 86.
Rackham’s riveting book is a rare, open, sometimes disturbing chronicle of terror and personal triumph. It provides us with poignant insight into the ongoing impact of war on our veterans and their families.
Michael Taylor, The Daily News
Skinny Little Frog refuses to eat flies because he is sure he won’t like them. And he has an even bigger problem than that to solve. Will he hide under his lily pad, or will he find courage in his little heart to try?
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Family ties are the ties that bind us to the past. And give us hope for the future. They are also the ties that take the greatest beating in life. Often frayed, dirty, and imperfectly woven, they still mold us; shape us in ways that are sometimes beyond understanding.
It was haying time and the horses were pulling the empty hay wagon up the driveway and back out into the field. As we passed the house, I jumped off and ran up the back steps, through the rickety screen door, and into the old country kitchen.
Like all parents, my wife Mary Anne, and I worried about our children. We worried that they weren’t eating well. Juli especially was skinny and often sick.
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