Memories of a Remarkable Life

This is the story aboutRoland John Beustring (1916-2005), amember of The Greatest Generation, was selftaught and self relianta just man who lived withintegrity. He was my father. Dad came from a poor, hard-working Germanfamily living on the banks of the Mississippi in St. Louis, Missouri. The stories of his boyhood aresimilar to that of Tom Sawyer. Recollections of hischildhood are full of adventures and antics that areheartwarmingly reminiscent of that era. Eager to enlist in the Civilian ConservationCorps (CCC), he used his older brothers nameand signed up at an early age. His experiences atthe CCC Camp known as Shady Lake in Mena,Arkansas are retold. Interested in boxing at an early age, Rol wasunbeatable among his childhood peers. In 1936,he won the welterweight championship in theGolden Gloves Amateur Boxing program in St. Louis,Missouri. His boxing successes could have evolvedinto a professional career if not for Dads need toearn money to help out his family.