How Higgins and His Boats Won the War

On June 6, 1944, at 3 o'clock in the morning, soldiers began climbing down nets draped along the walls of their transport ships into small, boxy boats. The boats were 36-foot long rectangular wooden boxes with a motor tucked in the back and a hinged metal door at the front. Up to 36 soldiers with full equipment crammed inside. The men were cold, seasick, and terrified. One soldier from the U.S. Army's Fourth Division cursed the inventor: "That guy Higgins ain't got nothing to be proud of inventing this goddamned boat." General Dwight Eisenhower would later disagree. He called the inventor "the man who won the war for us."

The Boy Who Built Boats in a Basement

Andrew Higgins grew up in Nebraska, a state not known for its waterways. But at age 12, he found a wrecked sailboat, dragged it home, and restored it himself. He named it Patience because of the painstaking work required—then found it too slow. That winter, he built an ice-sailing boat in his basement, only to realize he couldn't get it out. He waited for his mother to go shopping, then demolished part of the foundation with friends' help. The boat hit 60 miles per hour on the ice.