Tony Dora is a retired teacher of ESL to Adults. Prior to becoming a teacher, Tony worked for the New York Catholic Archdiocese as Director for Spanish Language Communications, producing and directing nationally syndicated TV and radio programs. Tony also worked as a newswriter for WNJU-TV and Worldwide Television News (a subsidiary of ABC TV). He has freelanced on and off-camera, directing and acting in commercials.

As a member of various organizations, Tony has performed as a public speaker before a national audience. Some of his short stories, as well as excerpts from this work have been published in various college magazines, such as Psuche from Saint Peter's University in Jersey City, New Jersey, Musings, Reflections and others.

At an earlier time, Tony was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked as a Chaplain Candidate ministering to the troops. At the time, he was a seminarian studying to be a Roman Catholic priest. He was ordained deacon and worked in a parish, where he prepared and delivered homilies.

This is my story—a nine-year old boy who, along with his little sister, took refuge in the US from Castro's communism. It chronicles our journey leaving Cuba to our arrival at a refugee camp for unescorted children in Florida City, then to an orphanage in Indiana, giving the reader a glimpse at life through the eyes of a boy living with children facing similar situations. It transpires within a 14-month period from 1962 to 1963. It ends when we were reunited with our mom.

Why would parents send their children, unescorted, to a foreign country with no guarantee they would see each other again? Most parents would do whatever it takes to safeguard their children's safety. No price is ever too steep. Thus, Cuban parents started sending their offspring, secretly, to the United States. Those who were deemed guilty of such a crime were imprisoned. Some were executed.

This is a story of overcoming life's many ordeals, while remaining steadfast in the resolve to rise above the hardship.

Published by K öehler Books.