Did you know hundreds of young men accompanied livestock on ships from America to Europe after World War II? In a joint program with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the Brethren Service Committee (BSC), UNRRA provided the ships and The Heifer Project (now Heifer International), a part of BSC, provided the livestock, and BSC provided most of the men to care for the animals.

The war was devastating for farm animals. Soldiers confiscated horses as work animals and took other livestock as food. With the winter of 1946 approaching, the liberated countries of Europe were in rubble, facing freezing temperatures and starvation. Children and hospitals desperately needed milk.

My uncle was a Seagoing Cowboy in September 1946, helping to care for 774 horses on the SS Pierre Victory ship from Newport News, Virginia, to Poland. Want to know more? Watch for my next book, tentatively titled, As Far As It Depends on You.