Across a War-Tossed Sea (17 page)

Any fraternization—listening to jazz or saying grits were tasty or befriending American guards—could bring the wrath of the
Lager-
Gestapo
or “Holy Ghost.” Offenders were warned by chicken bones in their bunks or were beaten in the latrine. There was a suspicious number of “suicides”—German soldiers hanged, suicide notes pinned to them confessing disloyalty to the fatherland.

Detecting such intimidation tactics was complicated by the fact that few American guards spoke German. But as reports of violence reached Washington, the United States separated Nazi fanatics into higher security facilities and offered more open-minded German POWs—like my character Günter—courses in democratic principles.

V-1 Rockets

Hitler's response to D-day was to launch the V-1 flying bomb, a pilotless jet-engine monoplane with a 150-mile range and one-ton warhead, like that described by Charles and Wesley's mother.
V
stood for “
Vergeltung
swaffen
” or “vengeance.” Their explosions were terrifyingly random, as rockets plummeted to earth wherever their engines cut off. Londoners froze upon hearing the V-1's telltale
putt-putting
hum, waiting for the silence that signaled its fall. Blasts were enormous. Windows as far away as a quarter of a mile would shatter.

At their height, the V-1s destroyed twenty thousand houses a day. The V-2s were even deadlier and faster, unstoppable once launched. More than three thousand Allied flyers sacrificed their lives to bomb those launchpads, their locations discovered by unnamed French Resistance heroes.

Odds and Ends

CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow rode on twenty-four bombing runs during World War II. He survived to host TV news back in the States after the war. Jock Abercrombie, however, the pilot of
D-Dog
, was killed a month after taking Murrow to the “Orchestrated Hell” the Ratcliff family listens to on their radio.

Günter's favorite author, Karl May, is still beloved in Germany. Annual festivals celebrate his fifteen books about Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. Germans dress up as Apaches, build tepees, and re-enact his stories. Charles and Wesley's school is modeled on Dulwich College, a London boys' academy that remained open during the war, its teachers and students braving the Blitz with incredible pluck. The Union sharpshooter tragically killing his own son at the Battle of Malvern Hill is fact.

And if you hike in areas where there may be snakes, please carry a premade snakebite kit equipped with an extractor pump! Do NOT attempt the rescue Charles and Wesley did.

See
www.lmelliott.com
for more information.

S
everal librarians were a tremendous help to this novel's detail and authenticity. I am particularly indebted to Bill Barker, archivist of the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, who provided reams of documents about the Merchant Marine, Newport News docks, U-boats off our shores, and African Americans in wartime shipbuilding. Bill (and assistant archivist Bill Edwards-Bodmer) opened avenues to explore I hadn't even known existed. Thanks, too, to McLean High School's Joan McCarthy; St. Catherine School's Laura McCutcheon, and Tyler Paul; Mike Litterst of the National Park Service; Macs Smith for his research and German translations; and Captain Mike of www.discovertheJames.com, who introduced me to the James River's eagles and sturgeons, and to the place where Charles almost drowns.

Many friends helped: Dr. Howard Weeks edited scenes regarding hunting, quail, and general Southernisms. Illustrator/author Henry Cole corroborated my memories of Virginia wildlife. Rowland Wilkinson kept my Briticisms “spot-on.”

Editor Lisa Yoskowitz gently guided me in reining in tantalizing tangents that could have led Charles and Wesley's story astray, and in more clearly defining their personalities and demons. This novel is better given her deft touch.

My husband, John, a teacher who keeps the love of literature alive in teenagers, and Dr. Denise Ousley-Exum, who grooms fledging educators for that all-important job, reminded me of what captures the adolescent heart.

A real pleasure of this novel was reconnecting with my cousins Martha and Sarah, who enriched my painting of Tidewater Virginia. We spent a delightful afternoon along the James, laughing over stories about my grandparents and father, who inspired the characters of
Under a War-Torn Sky
, the first story in this World War II trilogy, and its sequel,
A Troubled Peace.

Most important, as always, my children, Megan and Peter—who have grown up to be eloquent and insightful creative artists themselves—inspired me and then honed this novel through their repeated readings of its various stages of manuscript. Their adroit suggestions and questions quickened the novel's pacing, fleshed out its characters, plus deepened and chiseled its themes. Their influence permeates every page.

L. M. ELLIOTT
(www.LMElliott.com)
is the author of a number of picture books and award-winning historical novels, including
Under a War-Torn Sky
and its sequel,
A Troubled Peace
;
Annie
,
Between the States
;
Give Me Liberty
; and
Flying South
. A longtime journalist, Elliott was twice a finalist for the National Magazine Award and recipient of numerous Dateline awards. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and also holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina. She lives in northern Virginia with her family.