Book Review: The Jersey Brothers by Sally Mott Freeman

 

The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and 

His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home

Author: Sally Mott Freeman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Date of Publication: May 9, 2017

Pages: 608

    

     The Jersey Brothers was selected for monthly discussion by our neighborhood non-fiction book group.  I had never heard of the book before it was selected and doubt that I ever would have stumbled upon it to read on my own.  I am glad that our group selected it, as the book is obsessively researched, tightly written, emotional in many areas, and, on top of all of that, very educational.  

     The story is about two brothers, Bill and Benny Mott, and their younger half-brother Barton Cross.  The focus is mostly on Barton who was taken prisoner by the Japanese after the fall of the Philippines.  The early part of the book relates much of Barton's upbringing and schooling.  The reader is also introduced to the boys' mother Helen, who becomes a major character as the book moves along.  Bill and Benny are achievers, each obtaining an appointment to the Naval Academy in Annapolis and going on to successful naval careers.  Barton has a flair for the arts and music and doesn't seem to have the same drive to succeed.  He is sent to a private boarding school for high school to try to improve his academic standing but is not offered a position in Annapolis.  He spends a year at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. instead.  He survives all the hazing and harsh treatment as a first-year cadet.  Succeeding at The Citadel he transfers to the Naval Academy, where he endures yet another year of hazing and brutal physical punishment.  He proceeds to fail a math class by a fraction of a point and winds up at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.  He graduates from there with a business degree.  The point of all this backstory regarding Barton is important for the reader to know since these experiences were very formative and explain how he could survive the ordeals inflicted by his Japanese captors.  The reader also sees Helen Cross as a manipulative and obtrusive parent, what today we would call a "helicopter parent".  She embarks on letter writing campaigns every time she perceives that her son has been mistreated.  

     Meanwhile, Bill becomes an attorney and then, as a naval reservist, becomes a Naval Intelligence officer.  Benny moves up the ladder of command at sea.  As World War II approaches, Bill, recognizing that Barton will inevitably be drafted into the Army, pulls strings and gets Barton into the Navy as a supply officer.  Bill figures that this arrangement will keep Barton out of harm's way.  Unfortunately, exactly the opposite occurs as Barton is in the wrong place at the wrong time as the Japanese overwhelm the Philippines.  

     What follow is the story of Bill and Benny's relentless pursuit of information pertaining to their imprisoned brother and Barton's horrific ordeals at the hands of his Japanese captors.  Bill uses his position as chief of the White House Map Room (the war room) and his close relationship to President Roosevelt to gain access to classified prisoner and casualty lists.  Benny gets closer and closer to the Philippines as the U.S. Navy moves across the many Pacific islands as the war progresses.  These brothers collectively are witnesses to most of the pivotal events of the Pacific war: the attack on Pearl Harbor, the naval battles at Coral Sea and Midway, the Doolittle raid, and the utilization of the atomic bomb.  The author also exposes the infighting between the Army and Navy over strategy and the personal battles between General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz.  

     This book is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that it highlights the intense emotional toll that war has on families.  The unraveling of marriages, the disruption of any sense of normalcy, and, especially poignant, the terror inflicted on family members of prisoners of war.  Using Helen's diary entries and her many letters to naval officers, congressmen, and even President Roosevelt, the author shows the psychological damage inflicted on those at the home front.  

     In the end, The Jersey Brothers is an exhaustive look at World War II through the eyes of a remarkable family and their many contributions to the war effort.  The author is the daughter of Bill Mott, and she has obviously poured her heart and soul into this work.  She brings the horror of war down to a very personal level; Bill, Benny, and Barton are presented as the heroes that they indeed were, but with all their humanity, doubts, failings, and inadequacies presented as well.  The Jersey Brothers is a remarkable achievement and one which I will not soon forget.