A Young Man of Montana

A Young Man of Montana: From Hard Youth to Hawaii Mule-skinner

Irvin Atchinson lived a hard life as a young man growing up around Sidney, Montana, in the difficult times of the 1920s and 1930s. He had a way with horses and a hardscrabble life. When he joined the US Army, he had no idea that his skill would take him to the mountains of Hawaii to train mules in preparation for the coming War.

The early loss of his father, a childhood spent bouncing from home to home, and the economic hardships of living in a drought- and grasshopper-plagued region in the years of the Great Depression didn’t break him, though. Atchison’s story of a determination to rise above circumstances is inspirational and informative, set in the context of its time and place. He would eventually make his way to San Francisco, join the US Army, and ship out to Hawaii, where his experience with horses translated to a job working mules as part of erroneous preparations by the military in Hawaii in the 1930s.

The largely untold story of the Army’s strategic maneuvers in the lead-up to war makes this story of determination a fascinating addition to the literature of World War II.

By Daniel T. Miller. Hardcover, 160 pages. Pub. Date: November 1, 2021