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Robb White (1909 – 1990) was an American writer of screenplays, television scripts, and adventure novels. His parents were Episcopal missionaries in the Philippines, where he was born. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1931 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a pilot, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant commander. After the war, he wrote extensively but is best remembered for his YA World War II adventure novels. His combat experience helped him add realism to his plots and characters. You may have seen the movie Up Periscope – it is based on his novel. The seven books reviewed below are all appropriate for upper middle school to high school reading and comprehension levels. They are all very well-written, with accurate knowledge of the military, and are all very exciting!
Flight Deck concerns Lieutenant John Lawrence, a carrier pilot who fought bravely at the Battle of Midway, which took place early in the war against the Empire of Japan. He was wounded in the battle so that he no longer can fly. John has been made the Air Group Operations Officer on the aircraft carrier Enterprise, an important staff job that is not, however, on the front lines as he longs to be. The battle for Guadalcanal by the Marines is heating up and John sees an opportunity to serve. He takes himself and a radio to a series of small islands 200 miles from Guadalcanal, right in the path (the Slot) that Japanese bombers take to attack the US forces on Guadalcanal. He risks his life to radio warnings to the Marines when the bombers are coming so they can prepare for the attack. All goes well until a small Japanese force occupies his island warning station…
During World War II, a new part of the US military forces came into being – divers trained for reconnaissance, sabotage, and the defusing of underwater mines. Mobile diving gear that was unattached to any hoses connected to a surface boat was fairly new at this time, having been invented in various forms in the 1920s and 1930s. The famous French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau invented an improved diving apparatus in 1942. In the early 1950s, after the war, an American patented gear with the acronym SCUBA, standing for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.” The Frogmen chronicles the adventures of Amos Wainwright, who becomes one of the early frogmen. He is given a mission in the Pacific Ocean: investigate and defuse the mines that are protecting an important Japanese naval installation so that American forces can penetrate the harbor and destroy this facility. The action is slow but filled with high-octane tension, as Amos comes up against a deadline such that many American lives depend on him, his courage, and his intelligence.
Surrender concerns the Japanese conquest of the Philippines just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Most everyone knows about Pearl Harbor but not all that many understand that this attack was only part of an immense, almost simultaneous, Empire of Japan attack on American, British, and Dutch bases throughout the South Pacific. The story of this attack is told through the harrowing escape of a boy, Juan, and a girl, Jaime, from Japanese capture, as they strive to stay ahead of the enemy armies. We learn of the heroism of the Filipino armies and the start of the four-year long guerilla struggle against the Japanese conquerors. Though Jaime and Juan avoid the Bataan death march, the reader does learn about this awful real event in the war. Surrender is a well-told, fascinating, but somewhat grim story.
Lieutenant Adam Land is the hero of The Survivor. He is a surfboard riding, carefree young guy before the war who becomes a pilot. He is sent, because he speaks Japanese fluently, with several marines to secretly land on a Japanese-held island to determine what strength in men and weapons are there and report back to US command. The action on the island is incredible, capped by a last-ditch tank defense by one of the marines that allows the severely-wounded Adam and the surviving marines to escape in a stolen Japanese bomber. This is a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time you are reading it!
Set early in World War II, Silent Ship Silent Sea tells the story of Kelsey Devereux, who is supposed to be going to Navy Officer’s Candidate School, dress uniforms and all, after two years of college and boot camp. Instead, through an administrative error, he is sent to be an ordinary seaman on the destroyer Caron. Because of some of the things he does, due mainly to his inexperience and various misunderstandings, he makes enemies among the crew, especially one bully and his cohorts, and has to survive and thrive in the face of this hostility. After the destroyer is crippled by a Japanese attack, Kelsey becomes instrumental in saving the ship, facing down the bully, and striking back at the enemy.
Torpedo Run is about a PT Boat in the Pacific War and the men who sailed her. The boat’s name was Slewfoot. PT is short for “Patrol Torpedo.” These little ships, made out of plywood, were vastly overpowered, with up to 4000 horsepower engines capable of driving them at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. Their speed was their only defense, making them hard to hit. They were well-armed, however, with cannons, machine guns, anti-submarine depth charges, and anti-ship torpedoes. These boats accomplished much in the war against the Japanese. Torpedo Run starts when a green replacement officer is sent to take over for the captain of the Slewfoot, who was killed in combat. The drama of integrating officer and crew, all in the face of fighting the Japanese enemy, makes for a very active story.
Codes are extremely important in war-time. Each side wants their code to be unbreakable by the other side, while they in turn want to break the enemiy’s code. In both Europe and in the Pacific, breaking the German codes and the Japanese codes played a crucial role in the Allies’ final victory. In Up Periscope, Ken Braden, who has just been trained as a frogman in the Underwater Demolition School, is put on board a submarine with a team to secretly infiltrate a Japanese-island and steal their codebook. The radio transmitter on this island is relaying messages from spies in the Hawaiian Islands using code that thus far the cryptography teams back at Pearl Harbor cannot decipher. Lieutenant Braden and his team must steal the codes without alerting the enemy that they were there. Otherwise, they will simply change codes and the Americans would be right back where they started. As you might expect, this could prove to be a difficult, well-nigh impossible task. How Ken and his team accomplish their mission, not without loss, makes for a dramatic, well-written story.