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BOOKS IN BRIEF

Topedo Season

reviewed by Catherine Hamilton

The Torpedo Season:

Growing Up During World War II

by Richard C. Lukas

Independently published (October 26, 2021)

English, pb., 216 pp

ISBN-13: 979-8721020223

When a renowned retired professor of history wakes up one spring morning and returns to his writing table, we are promised something truthful, something that will whisk us past mundane historical fact, something exquisite, something personal. And this is exactly what we find in Dr. Richard C. Lukas’s memoir, The Torpedo Season: Growing up During World War II.

This historian and author has published nine books, and numerus articles, and short stories including: Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles under German Occupation 1939-1944, Did the Children Cry: Hitler’s War against Jewish and Polish Children 1930-1945, and Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation, just to name a few.

A collection of short stories, Lukas’ memoir is written in first-person viewpoint, from the boy child, Richard. Set in the Polish immigrant neighborhoods of New England at the onset of World War II, Lukas brings to life the heartwarming tales of a boy who grew up immersed in Polish American culture under the dark cloud of war.

In one story, Richard’s tale carried me away to the Fisherman’s Beach, beachcombing with his boyhood friend Johnny—blissfully and willingly into the adventures near the sea I followed these curious young fellows. There is a “squadron of pelicans flying overhead,” snatching up fish, there are life vests, binoculars, ration tins, bullet cartridges … Suddenly I realized before little Richard did, that his curiosity was on a collision course with a partly submerged torpedo that could detonate unexpectedly. Confronted with my own fears, I read on, hoping the bomb disposal unit would arrive before “Child’s Play” turned into collateral damage from German U-boats. Thankfully, the boys lived to tell the tale.

Two of my other favorites are about the Polish traditions around the Christmas holidays. In the chapter entitled “Wigilia,” we enter the extended Lukas family living under one roof as their Christmas Eve celebration begins. I could almost taste the mushroom soup, pierogi and nalesniki (all my favorites)! Best of all is the arrival of an unexpected guest that fills the empty chair at the table one very special Christmas Eve. To my delight, Lukas writes a heartwarming vignette dedicated entirely to the blessed nativity scene, the crèche, or szopka.

This enchanting collection of short stories by Dr. Richard Lukas — our very own renowned Polish historian and author of countless nonfiction books about World War II Poland, is the most delightful of memoirs I’ve ever read.

If you’re one of those people who rarely purchase a memoir, perhaps these words from the synopsis will persuade you: “From the somber bell of his parish church that marked the funerals of soldiers and sailors returning for burial, to the hilarious cast of characters making up his extended Polish American family all living under one roof, this story brims with vivid and poignant descriptions about the people who profoundly influenced… [Richard Lukas].” But if that doesn’t convince you to add this book to your home library, maybe the fact that Dr. Lukas is donating 100 % of all the book sales to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital will! Bravo Dr. Lukas!

From the bombing of Pearl Harbor to a visit from Polish RAF pilots from England on leave from fighting the Germans, to beach combing, quintessential Polish Christmas Eve celebrations, and parochial school capers, all through the eyes of a child whose curiosity, wonder, and humor resounds on every page.

I first met Dr. Lukas and his lovely Polish wife Marita in 1997, while on my own World War II Poland research trip, having read everything I could get my hands on the subject, including all Lukas’s books, I wanted to pick his brain about a few unsolved mysteries.One: why didn’t the West know the truth about how the Polish Christians suffered in Poland during the Second World War? We both surmised, the information lockdown was created by the Soviet Union’s iron curtain for more than forty years after the war was over. Information on the events in occupied Poland, such as the fact that more than 1.7 million Polish-Catholics were kidnapped and forced into slave labor, sent to German factories and farmers for the duration of the war. Sadly, the Germans also kept this act a secret. I never imagined back then, that one of my Polish idols on the subject of Polish war history would ask me to contribute to one of his books (Forgotten Survivors,) and review another.

The Torpedo Season is an upbeat World War II / immigrant family memoir that has a message for all of us: belief in hard work, love of family that binds us, and loyalty to all our truths we hold dear. Waiting in the wings far too long, it is my distinct pleasure to have reviewed and to highly recommend this book to all Polish Americans, and everyone who loves to read short stories and memoirs.