Book

Tougias, Michael J., 1955- author.

So close to home : a true story of an American family's fight for survival during World War II / Michael J. Tougias and Alison O'Leary.

First Pegasus Books cloth edition.

New York : Pegasus Books, 2016.

xi, 237 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

On May 19, 1942, a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico stalked its prey fifty miles from New Orleans. Captained by twenty nine-year-old Iron Cross and King's Cross recipient Erich Wurdemann, the submarine set its sights on the freighter Heredia with sixty-two souls on board. Most aboard were merchant seamen, but there were also a handful of civilians, including the Downs family: Ray and Ina, and their two children, eight-year-old Sonny and eleven-year-old Lucille. Fast asleep in their berths, the Downs family had no idea that two torpedoes were heading their way. When the ship exploded, chaos ensued--and each family member had to find their own path to survival. -- Amazon.com

Downs family.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Naval operations -- Submarine.

Shipwreck survival -- Mexico, Gulf of.

Survival at sea -- Mexico, Gulf of.

O'Leary, Alison, author.

True story of an American family's fight for survival during World War II

Maps on lining papers.

A Tired Old Workhorse -- Ina and the South American Venture -- Admiral Dönitz and his Grey Wolves -- Harro Schacht and U-507 -- The Grey Wolves and the Mississippi -- Moving Ever Closer -- Denied a Safe Port -- An Uneasy Feeling -- Torpedoes in the Night -- The Raft -- A most Hopeless Night -- Dawn -- Desperation -- Running Out of Time -- The Shrimp Boat and a Surprise -- Ina -- Lucille -- Triumphant Return to Lorient -- Morgan City and the Hospital -- The Laconia: A Sinking and a Rescue -- Spies, Duty, and the Turning of the Battle Tide -- Passages So Far from Home -- Sonny.

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