That Damned Torpedo: World War II Letters, A Dutch Naval Officer, and His American Bride

Ironically, the adventure that began with a fast-talking twelve-year-old runaway on a fishing boat becomes a nautical career. By 1943, that boy is a debonair young Dutch officer whose ship is sunk by a Japanese submarine. An inquest into the incident brings him to the shipping company's offices in New York City, where he is captivated by a charming secretary. For Dirk van Ekelenburg and Blanche Waldeck, first glances are enough to seal their fates.

After a whirlwind courtship, they are married for fifty-two years. She moves with him to the West Coast, leaving her parents in New Jersey. He must return to his duties at sea. His family in occupied Holland is suffering and starving. Her brother is an American soldier in England and France. Only long and frequent letters connect the couple and the families.

Collected here are some of those letters, many of which read with the excitement of an old-fashioned radio program with all of its twists and turns. Despite censors removing restricted defense information, these letters illuminate how wartime punishes nations both weak and powerful, and individuals both military and civilian.

Author: Linda Van Ekelenburg
Publisher: Geistesblitz Press
Published: 08/01/2019
Pages: 334
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.08lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.75d
ISBN: 9780998209302

About the Author
Van Ekelenburg, Linda: - Linda van Ekelenburg was assembled in San Francisco from German parts. She participates in the Partner Program of the online Quora community, as well as several social media groups sharing information about the cultural, military, and political aspects of World War II in the United States and the Netherlands. Her independent study of the Holocaust spans decades. The author is a long-time member of the American Association of Teachers of German, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the American Translators Association, the National Association of Good Grammar (that's right! NAGG), and the Society for Germanic Linguistics. Other interests include social history, current affairs, and movies. She has never been in prison or photographed her meal. She is open-minded, but not to the extent that her brains will fall out. The mother of two perfect adult children, she lives in the California wine country with her prince of a husband, Mark, without whose encouragement this book could not have been written.