The Jersey Brothers

A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home

De: Sally Mott Freeman

Narrado por: Cassandra Campbell

This extraordinary adventure of three brothers at the center of the most dramatic turning points of World War II in the Pacific Theater is “liable to break the hearts of Unbroken fans, and it’s all true” (The New York Times).

The three Jersey brothers are 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 the Pearl Harbor attack 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 prisoners of war, 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 military family saga, 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).

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Highly dramatic history. [Mott’s] book is liable to break the hearts of Unbroken fans, and it’s all true.”
– The New York Times

“A masterpiece of storytelling, infused with heroism and adventure. This moving portrait of three brothers is a brilliantly researched and written history of America’s wartime role in the Pacific.”
– Lynne Olson, New York Times bestselling author of Those Angry Days

“An evocative real-life tale of agony and triumph about brotherly love and a young American who discovers his personal courage amidst the tortures of war. Freeman had me rooting for these Jersey boys on every page.”
– James Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers

“Better than fiction because it is real.... The Jersey Brothers demonstrates that a well-told story is just that, whatever its genre.”
– New York Journal of Books

“A gripping, deeply moving saga of an American family whose experiences cast a new light on one of the most harrowing and heroic periods in American history. In their devotion to each other and to their country, these three brothers inspire us with courage, intelligence, and exceptional resilience.”
– Sally Bedell Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth the Queen

“The Jersey Brothers shines in singularity. A blend of history, family saga and family questions, [Freeman’s] first book proves to be a winning and moving success.... A decade in the making, The Jersey Brothers adds an authoritative entry to the vast canon of war literature, one that elicits cheers, tears and a few jeers.... Freeman’s dogged investigative skills, the truth they reveal and her ability to render it with grace combine to make her book — a gripping story of courage and carnage, heroism and horror, devotion and death — unforgettable.”
– Richmond Times-Dispatch

“A captivating tour-de-force that immediately stands tall with the best of other World War II combat literature.... Freeman weaves together a story that will tug at the emotions of anyone who has ever known someone who has worn our nation’s uniform in peacetime or at war.”
– San Antonio Express-News

“In her moving new epic The Jersey Brothers, Sally Mott Freeman captures a story of love, devotion and perseverance shared by three inspiring siblings caught in the epicenter of some of the war’s most crucial actions… A rare look into the deepest personal emotions of a family of America’s Greatest Generation.”
– The Dallas Morning News

Band of Brothers Meets Unbroken-a Remarkable Book

This is one of the most amazing stories I have ever read, rendered all the more amazing because it is pure fact, not fiction. Anyone who has any interest in the WWII action in the Pacific theater must put this on his/her reading list. As others have noted, it has echoes of "Unbroken", but not only does it cover the territory (and confirm) that book's recounting of the unspeakable horrors suffered by prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese, it covers so many other aspects of the war in the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to Bataan and the Philippines to the great land and sea battles including Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Leyte Gulf, the Coral Sea - all told from first hand accounts of the three brothers who were there and who could comment not only on the battles but on the commanders who ran them - MacArthur, Halsey, Nimitz, Turner and others. In addition, one of the brothers - the father of the author by the way - witnessed the early years of the war from the inner circle of the White House. He ran (actually, created) FDR's vaunted strategic "map room" and there interacted daily with the president and his war staff (as well as first lady Eleanor) before he, too, shipped out to join the war at sea. To have these three brothers all as first-hand witnesses to some of the major events of the war is itself astounding, and as you would expect, leads to some equally amazing - and heart-wrenching - tales from their home front, focusing on their indomitable mother, Helen. The author spent ten years researching this material not only from family archives but from sources scattered all over the world. She pulls it together beautifully. I couldn't put this book down. I walked extra miles just so I could keep listening and it left me in tears and emotionally drained at the end. Please read or listen to it; it is unforgettable. Brava Sally Mott Freeman!

Riveting, inspiring, devastating, beautiful

A patchwork of firsthand accounts, the result of painstaking effort to tell the hard-won truth of a missing Sailor and beloved family member. It puts the tragedy of the American military's unprepared response to the Japanese invasion under a microscope; I spent half of the book shaking my head in anger and disappointment, other portions longing help those imprisoned or killed in battle, the rest with pride swelling in my chest hearing the accounts of sheer bravery our military men exhibited. The events described in this book sparked a change across the world- from how each branch conducts business to the global standards of conducting war. It is a treasure among combat tales; this book devoured me.

Great book on ww2

I enjoyed the perspective of a ww2 pow's family on the war in the Pacific theater.

The Forest Gumps of WWII

I have read numerous books - fiction and non fiction - about the war in the Pacific. This story had no need to create characters on the scene of great events. These brothers were there - from FDR’s map room to the Doolittle raid, Pearl Harbor, and unfortunately Japanese POW camps. There is just enough color added to make the bare facts understandable. If you liked Unbroken you will love this book (unless you can’t bare to hear what about McArthur’s narcissism).

One of the beat ever!!

I loved this book.I cried at times and the detail was unbelievable.I felt like I was there.One of my very best reads ever.