"I see England. I see France. I see Judy's underpants." That jibe, I believe, first developed some small desire in me to visit France. A country that was mostly about female undergarments was the country for me, as I entered puberty.
Aboard my father's convoy, transporting him from American shores to England. "You never saw so many boats in your whole life. As far as you could see: boats.
"Then one day!
"The sun is out. Nice day. Everybody's up on deck. It was a big English liner. Twenty thousand troops on this one boat."
Rounded up to the nearest ten grand. It was sailing past the tub my father was consigned to.
The record was 15,028 troops aboard the Queen Elizabeth, virtually the entire U.S. 1st Infantry Division. With two fast British liners, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary, the Allies transported about 420,000 U.S. troops to England, a quarter of the total, in just 37 trips. The Queens usually traveled alone, their 28.5 knot speed their chief protection against submarines.
Dad: "We had a couple of destroyers with us. All of a sudden one of these destroyers starts cutting circles in front of us, and there's the cans" — depth charges — "coming off it like crazy. And every time they explode underneath, it's just like you took a hammer and hit the side of the boat.
"What a bang! Oh, boy, I'm telling you. We were scared. 'Cause they had orders: if any boat gets hit with a torpedo, the other boats keep right on going. They don't stop and pick up anybody."
Review by Boston University Professor of Humanities, Robert Wexelblatt: "One of the most extraordinary autobiographies I've ever encountered. It is unimpeachably honest, insightful, intimate, touching.... An exceptional book."