Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The valor and contributions of the U.S. Merchant Marines to victory in WWII has seldom been acknowledged. Often derided as not real soldiers or draft dodgers, they had a reputation in port cities as drunken brawlers whose company should be avoided by respectable citizens. Journalist Geroux acknowledges that some men enlisted for less-than-patriotic reasons, including the desire to avoid the perceived drudgery and discipline of the regular military, and that some let off steam with raucous behavior. But he convincingly asserts that many were true yet unappreciated heroes. They maintained the vital lifeline to Europe, shipping millions of tons of fuel, food, and munitions to Britain and the Soviet Union while facing severe weather conditions and the constant threat of attacks by German submarines. A surprisingly large number of men came from Mathews County, Virginia, including seven men from the Hodges family. Geroux follows these men and their exploits from the Arctic to the Caribbean to the south Atlantic and, surprisingly, the U.S. coast, as German subs found supply vessels to be easy pickings. Geroux presents an unflinching, inspiring, and long-delayed tribute to the sacrifice of these men.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist Geroux combines the skills of a newsman and those of a scholar to tell the story of the vital and heroic role played by the U.S. Merchant Marines during WWII. These civilian sailors delivered hundreds of millions of tons of cargo across the globe during the war, on vulnerable, often-unescorted ships, and their actions are largely overlooked in histories of the war. Communities that made their living from the sea, including Mathews County, Va., and families such as the Hodges-who sent seven sons to war on defenseless merchantmen facing the ace U-boats of Nazi Germany-bore the consequences and received neither recognition nor reward. In the war's early days, so many merchantmen were sunk off the Atlantic coast that a publisher "hurried into print a 144-page book entitled How to Abandon Ship." Death was only a torpedo hit away and surviving could still mean dying slowly on a raft. Geroux leaves no doubt that the ocean was as unforgiving as the U-boats-as was a Congress that failed to extend veterans' benefits to merchant mariners until 1988. Yet the men of Mathews still put to sea; "the torpedoes just got in the way." Maps. Agent: Farley Chase, Chase Literary. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The heroics and sacrifices of the U.S. Merchant Marines during the late 1930s through the end of World War II in 1945 are often overlooked by history. Their precious cargo kept the Allied powers from starvation while also providing them with the arsenal to continue fighting. Because of this, American merchant ships were prime targets of Adolf Hitler's U-boats years before an American soldier set foot on European soil. Unprotected by the navy until 1943, Merchant Marines risked torpedo explosions, shark attacks, storms, and weeks aboard lifeboats with minimal supplies. Former journalist Geroux aims to bring their achievements to light in his first book by focusing on one community in Mathews County, VA, near Chesapeake Bay, and one family in particular. The Hodges family sent seven sons to war while the family's matriarch, Henny, ran the farm and experienced the war seaside. Geroux describes the evolution of U-boat and merchant ship technology as both Allied and Axis powers sought to attack and defend. VERDICT A gripping tale of wartime heroics and an emotional family story, this is a must-read addition to World War II literature.-Heidi Uphoff, Sandia National Laboratories, NM © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An intricate look at the outsized role of a group of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, families in the dangerous work of the Merchant Marines during World War II. As former Richmond Times-Dispatch journalist Geroux delineates in this stringently researched study, the Merchant Marines "was not a branch of the military" but rather "an association of privately owned shipping companies operating under the American flag, employing American crews, and fighting like bull sharks over contracts to haul goods by sea." Thus, they became vitally important in control of the seas when war broke out officially in 1941. Mathews County, Virginia, had a long reputation for producing the most capable mariners, and Geroux spotlights several families whose fathers and sons took the brunt in parrying the German U-boats that hunted in the waters of the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico, disrupting war supplies and oil to Britain and Europe. The author delves into the service of the Hodges family of Gales Neck, whose many sons became merchant mariners, working as independent contractors for the U.S. government who needed to carry the crucial war cargo across the seas. Facing the ramped-up U-boat campaign in the beginning stages, the U.S. did not have the wherewithal to protect the tankers and freightersuntil the implementation of the convoy system in mid-summer 1942 after horrible losses at sea such as the sinking of the Onondaga. Geroux offers poignant accounts of these lost men, such as Onondaga's Capt. George Dewey Hodges, whose remains and ring were soon after found in a captured shark. Sadly, however much the Merchant Marines aided in helping shepherd the convoys across the seas during the war effort, they were locked out of the postwar veterans' benefits. A deep, compassionate group biography of these "unsung heroes" of the Merchant Marines. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
