HEROES: War's Youngest

Blond, bright-eyed Edward Collins, 12, lives in Rye, N.Y., spends his summers romping around his grandmother's Cape Cod cottage. One morning he and Cousin Grant Howes set out to explore the bayberry thickets, to find a new short cut to the beach. Instead they found something that set their pulses racing: a hidden, camouflaged tent filled with radio equipment.

They ran to a Coast Guard base, panted out their story. Coastguardsmen followed them to the tent. This time it was guarded by a husky teen-aged German-talking youth, who charged at "Neddie" Collins with...

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