From his eyewitness adventures in the storming of Iwo Jima with the 4th Marines to his induction into the US Navy Seabees, Nottingham provides a sometimes stark and sometimes amusing description of life in the military.
Born in Sheridan and raised in Big Horn, Wyoming, Nottingham flashes to events which conditioned his response to challenges. Frequent references to people who influenced his life provide interesting glimpses into factors affecting his path to family and career.
If one of the vignettes in The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw were to be expanded, it might look very much like the account in Once a Cowboy.