Audiobook18 hours
The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home
Written by Sally Mott Freeman
Narrated by Cassandra Campbell
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
This extraordinary adventure of three brothers at the center of the most dramatic turning points of World War II is “liable to break the hearts of Unbroken fans, and it’s all true” (The New York Times).
They are three brothers, all Navy men, who end up coincidentally and extraordinarily at the epicenter of three of the war’s most crucial moments. Bill, a naval intelligence officer, is tapped by FDR to set up and run his secret map room in the White House basement. Benny is the gunnery and antiaircraft officer on USS Enterprise, one of the few ships to escape Pearl Harbor and, by the end of 1942, the only aircraft carrier left in the Pacific to defend against the Japanese. Barton, the youngest, gets a plum commission in the Navy Supply Corps because his mother wants him out of harm’s way. But this protection plan backfires when Barton is sent to Manila and listed as wounded and missing after a Japanese attack. Now it is up to Bill and Benny to find and rescue him…
Based on a decade of research drawn from archives around the world, interviews with fellow shipmates and POWs, and half-forgotten letters stashed away in attics, The Jersey Brothers is “a captivating tour-de-force” (San Antonio Express-News) that whisks readers from America’s front porches to Roosevelt’s White House to the battlefronts of the Pacific. But at its heart The Jersey Brothers is a family story, written by one of its own in intimate, novelistic detail. It is a remarkable tale of agony and triumph; of an ordinary young man who shows extraordinary courage as the enemy does everything short of killing him; and of brotherly love tested under the tortures of war.
“The Jersey Brothers shines in singularity. A blend of history, family saga and family questions, Freeman’s book [is] a winning and moving success, and adds an authoritative entry to the… vast canon of war literature” (Richmond Times Dispatch).
They are three brothers, all Navy men, who end up coincidentally and extraordinarily at the epicenter of three of the war’s most crucial moments. Bill, a naval intelligence officer, is tapped by FDR to set up and run his secret map room in the White House basement. Benny is the gunnery and antiaircraft officer on USS Enterprise, one of the few ships to escape Pearl Harbor and, by the end of 1942, the only aircraft carrier left in the Pacific to defend against the Japanese. Barton, the youngest, gets a plum commission in the Navy Supply Corps because his mother wants him out of harm’s way. But this protection plan backfires when Barton is sent to Manila and listed as wounded and missing after a Japanese attack. Now it is up to Bill and Benny to find and rescue him…
Based on a decade of research drawn from archives around the world, interviews with fellow shipmates and POWs, and half-forgotten letters stashed away in attics, The Jersey Brothers is “a captivating tour-de-force” (San Antonio Express-News) that whisks readers from America’s front porches to Roosevelt’s White House to the battlefronts of the Pacific. But at its heart The Jersey Brothers is a family story, written by one of its own in intimate, novelistic detail. It is a remarkable tale of agony and triumph; of an ordinary young man who shows extraordinary courage as the enemy does everything short of killing him; and of brotherly love tested under the tortures of war.
“The Jersey Brothers shines in singularity. A blend of history, family saga and family questions, Freeman’s book [is] a winning and moving success, and adds an authoritative entry to the… vast canon of war literature” (Richmond Times Dispatch).
Author
Sally Mott Freeman
Sally Mott Freeman was a speechwriter and media and public relations executive for twenty-five years. She is currently Board Chair Emerita of The Writer’s Center, the premier independent literary center in the mid-Atlantic. The Jersey Brothers is her first book.
Related to The Jersey Brothers
Related audiobooks
The Storm on Our Shores: One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bones of My Grandfather: Reclaiming a Lost Hero of WWII Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/582 Days on Okinawa: One American’s Unforgettable Firsthand Account of the Pacific War’s Greatest Battle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lions of Iwo Jima: The Story of Combat Team 28 and the Bloodiest Battle in Marine Corps History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Blood, Black Sand: Fighting Alongside John Basilone from Boot Camp to Iwo Jima Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The War Journal of Major Damon 'Rocky' Gause Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Battle for Hell's Island: How a Small Band of Carrier Dive-Bombers Helped Save Guadalcanal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Man Standing: The 1st Marine Regiment on Peleliu, September 15-21, 1944 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Damned Island After Another: The Saga of the Seventh Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ship That Wouldn't Die: The Saga of the Uss Neosho - a World War II Story of Courage and Survival at Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hell in the Pacific: A Marine Rifleman's Journey from Guadalcanal to Peleliu Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War in the South Pacific: Out in the Boondocks, U.S. Marines Tell Their Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rescue at Los Banos: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart of Hell: The Untold Story of Courage and Sacrifice in the Shadow of Iwo Jima Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Other Side of Infamy: My Journey through Pearl Harbor and the World of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels Against the Sun: A WWIl Saga of Grunts, Grit, and Brotherhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5MISSING: A World War II Story of Love, Friendships, Courage, and Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Mission to Tokyo: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raiders and Their Final Fight for Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lucky 666: The Impossible Mission Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5D-Day with the Screaming Eagles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Hallowed Ground: The Last Battle for Pork Chop Hill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers the Battle of Midway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last of the 357th Infantry: Harold Frank's WWII Story of Faith and Courage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Military Biographies For You
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SEAL of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Napoleon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Clear Thinking: A Stealth Fighter Pilot's Timeless Rules for Making Tough Decisions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things I'll Never Forget: Memories of a Marine in Viet Nam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here, Right Matters: An American Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Punisher: A SEAL Team THREE Sniper's True Account of the Battle of Ramadi Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alexander the Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary: Can't Hurt Me - Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scars and Stripes: An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbroken Bonds of Battle: A Modern Warriors Book of Heroism, Patriotism, and Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Killing School: Inside the World's Deadliest Sniper Program Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lives of the Twelve Caesars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Jersey Brothers
Rating: 4.777777777777778 out of 5 stars
5/5
9 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5difficult to hear about the barbarity of the Japanese but neccessary. Great book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Every powerful family history for anyone interested in how world war 2 effects a family
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Engaging material excellently presented. A real life “Winds of War”.