The Night of the Léopoldville
by Samuel Blackwood
2,235 soldiers boarded her on Christmas Eve. At 5:54 p.m., a torpedo slammed into Hold No. 4, where Tommy Malloy had gone below four minutes earlier. Officially, no one saw him die — but Eddie knows why he went down there.
Southampton, December 23, 1944. The 66th Division's Christmas dinner goes into the garbage. That night, 2,235 American soldiers board the Léopoldville, a Belgian liner turned troopship, to cross the Channel to Cherbourg. Among them are Eddie Brennan and Tommy Malloy, nineteen, who grew up across the street from each other in Akron, Ohio.
On December 24, at 5:54 p.m., with the lights of Cherbourg in sight, a torpedo hits Hold No. 4. Four minutes earlier, Tommy went back down there, to do Eddie a favor.
Five ordinary people will each carry a piece of that night: Eddie, searching for Tommy on a ship going down by the stern; Jef, a mess steward from Antwerp, lowered into a lifeboat while the soldiers stand in line and watch; Marguerite, an interpreter at the port of Cherbourg, called down to the quay; Ruth, Tommy's mother, doing the Sunday dishes in Akron; and Captain Harlan, whose job is to make false lists match men who are alive, dead, or nowhere to be found.
For months, the families will be told that no further information is available. But a letter has left France.
Based on a real sinking that was kept quiet for decades. Contains wartime death, without graphic description.
On December 24, at 5:54 p.m., with the lights of Cherbourg in sight, a torpedo hits Hold No. 4. Four minutes earlier, Tommy went back down there, to do Eddie a favor.
Five ordinary people will each carry a piece of that night: Eddie, searching for Tommy on a ship going down by the stern; Jef, a mess steward from Antwerp, lowered into a lifeboat while the soldiers stand in line and watch; Marguerite, an interpreter at the port of Cherbourg, called down to the quay; Ruth, Tommy's mother, doing the Sunday dishes in Akron; and Captain Harlan, whose job is to make false lists match men who are alive, dead, or nowhere to be found.
For months, the families will be told that no further information is available. But a letter has left France.
Based on a real sinking that was kept quiet for decades. Contains wartime death, without graphic description.
Chapters
- 1 The Thrown-Out Dinner
- 2 The Twenty-Fifth
- 3 Sunday in Akron
- 4 1754 Hours
- 5 The Stairs
- 6 1825 Hours
- 7 Four Thousand Men
- 8 2040 Hours
- 9 3:40 P.M. Premium
- 10 The Quay Premium
- 11 The Name Premium
- 12 The Unknown Column Premium
- 13 The Hospital Premium
- 14 The Antwerp Train Premium
- 15 Missing in Action Premium
- 16 Blosville Premium
- 17 The Racetrack Premium
- 18 Rennes Premium
- 19 765 Premium
- 20 The Harbor Café Premium
- 21 The Stamp Premium
- 22 The French Envelope Premium
- 23 The Persier Premium
- 24 The Leak Premium
- 25 The Lorient Pocket Premium
- 26 Witness Premium
- 27 The Interrogation Premium
- 28 Killed in Action Premium
- 29 The Statement Premium
- 30 The Letter Without a Letterhead Premium
- 31 Akron Premium
- 32 Fort Benning, November 7, 1997 Premium
