A Sandwich for the Journey

Set against the horrifying backdrop of World War II, A Sandwich for the Journey tells the story of one of three million evacuees - a young Jewish boy from London's East End named Maurice Levitt. This moving narrative is beautifully told and centers around an oral history conducted in 2016 between Charles Minx and his father in law, none other than Maurice Levitt himself, who was 84 years old at the time. From 1939 to 1944, between the ages of seven to twelve, young Maurice was evacuated five times from his family's home and forced to live with "host" families in the English and Welsh countryside, while his father's family was facing unspeakable horrors in Nazi-occupied Poland as most fell victim to the holocaust, disappearing without a trace.
About the Author: Charles C. Minx, Jr. was born in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. He was the youngest child of Charles (Sr.) and Dorothy Minx. Over the course of his life, Charles has had jobs as a warehouseman, landscaper, substitute teacher, lab technician, telecommunications test engineer, quality inspector and presently as a history teacher. Always the history buff, Charles earned a BA in History from Ball State University in 1982 - graduating with honors. He spent a year in West Haven Connecticut where his family had relocated, eventually landing in Santa Barbara, California where he attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. There, he enrolled in its Public History graduate program. This was a bad fit for him in many respects and he withdrew after less than one month's time. After a couple of years in the Golden State, he found himself back in Connecticut, where he earned his teaching certification in Social Sciences from Southern Connecticut State University in 1988. It was back to Santa Barbara California in 1990 where he met his wife of 24 years, Laura. In 1993 at the advanced age of 35 Charles enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served eight years in the reserves under Special Operations Command. In 1994 he earned an AAS degree in electrical engineering which eventually landed him in Silicon Valley where he and Laura purchased a home and began raising their two girls Katelyn and Elise. The disaster of 911 and its economic repercussions ended the so-called "Golden Age of Telecom" resulting in the closure of Charles's telecom test lab in 2002. Coming full circle, Charles moved his family to South Bend in early 2003 where he and his family began their lives anew. Fourteen years later he had the opportunity to earn his Masters's degree in Liberal Studies from Indiana University South Bend, and, alas, it was his graduate thesis that planted the seeds for the book A Sandwich for the Journey.