I have also read he grew up in an abandoned railway car - his father had deserted the family of something like ten kids and his mother, it was rumored, was part Indian. She died young.
I don’t know why you are arguing about this - it’s perfectly true that many children of the Depression suffered dreadfully. We should all remember that and thank our blessings.
Those people were tough and resilient. The Germans and Japs didn’t understand that aspect of what they were up against when they faced the Americans.