In those books was a world of adventure, perfect for a young man.
In Torpedo Run, the exec of a PT boat has to try to hold his crew together under a by-the-book new commander whose draconian ways and lack of experience push the boat towards mutiny — a problem that rises to a peak when the boat is disabled and drifting in Japanese waters.In Up Periscope, a young lieutenant is chosen for a secret mission to steal codes from under the noses of the Japanese at a radio station on a small Pacific island. As if that weren’t frightening enough, to get there he has to travel by submarine . . .
In Surrender, a half-Filipino brother and sister take to the jungles in search of their American naval officer father when the Japanese invade the Philippines.
In The Frogmen, a frogman, a member of the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Team, braves a Japanese-held channel to learn the secret of their underwater mines, which let Japanese ships through but explode when the Americans try to pass. To do so he must outthink the designers of the mines, who left explosive traps that can be triggered by one wrong move.
In The Survivor, a Naval aviator is chosen to accompany a group of marines on a dangerous mission, and wonders why he’s there and what use he could be. He only begins to find out when their transporting submarine is sunk and everything goes south.
In Silent Ship, Silent Sea, a young ensign on his way to Officer Training School finds himself instead on a destroyer as a supernumerary — an extra number. When he orders “Abandon ship” during a battle, he risks court martial for desertion, and has to regain the trust of his crewmates and prove to the captain that he has what it takes to be an officer.Some of these descriptions might sound like Hollywood action movie stuff — secret missions behind enemy lines and so on — and indeed, the James Garner film adaptation of Up Periscope is just that. But the books are surprisingly character-centered. White's descriptions of the way people think and act under extreme duress are realistic and intense, and the thoughts and feelings of the main characters are made vividly real to the reader.
Best of all, the characters are ordinary men and boys (and a girl, in Surrender), not action heroes. They are scared — often terrified — and would much rather be anywhere else, but they know what they have to do is worth doing, worth sacrificing for, worth even giving their lives for (literally, in one book). These characters exemplify (sometimes learning as they go) the classic old virtues of courage, duty, honor, and selflessness, the virtues that won World War II for us but have fallen out of vogue in favor of modern “virtues” like non-judgmentalism and self-fulfillment, whatever that means. Far from being “true to themselves,” these characters often have to overcome themselves in order to accomplish a mission that is bigger and more important than their own desires or even their own safety. In a simple, matter of fact way, they do the right thing because it needs to be done.
I’ve tracked down copies of all these books, and I’m keeping them for when Pio and Max are old enough to read them. I even digitized one, and hope to digitize the others someday. I think every boy’s childhood should have stories like these.
And of course, having them available for Pio and Max means I get to read them, too. :)
More on Robb White in my next post.
