Three boys walk into the darkest century—and somehow, light follows. The Boys in the Light traces a startling convergence: Eddie Willner, a Jewish teenager ripped from his German childhood and forced through camps and slave labor, and two American soldiers—Elmer Hovland, a steady Minnesota farm boy, and Sammy “Pepsi” DeCola, a big-hearted Italian American who keeps his unit fed and laughing. As war hardens everyone it touches, Eddie and his friend Mike make a desperate break for freedom. When two starving boys stagger out of the woods and into the path of D Company’s tanks, the story pivots from survival to salvation. What happens next isn’t just rescue—it’s a bond that helps traumatized soldiers remember why they’re fighting, and gives two hunted teenagers a future. This is a harrowing, hopeful true story of endurance, chosen family, and the kind of courage that refuses to go out.
