Attacked at Sea by Michael J. Tougias

Attacked at Sea tells the harrowing story of surviving a U-Boat submarine attack in the early days of World War II.

Attacked at Sea: A True World War II Story of a Family’s Fight for Survival by Michael J. Tougias and Alison O’Leary.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-15

Raymond Downs and his wife Ina had grown up poor in Texas during the Great Depression. But Ray learned some mechanical skills with which he supported his growing family of three children: Terry, Lucile, and Raymond Jr. (better known as Sonny). When Ray was hired as an engine repairman for the United Fruit company, he saw his ticket to a better life once he’d served on the company plantations in South America. The whole family looked forward to an adventure, but once the novelty wore off (and once Terry was sent back to Texas for the sake of his schooling), they began longing for home. In time the company granted their request for a transfer and bought passage for the four Downses on the freighter Heredia, bound for New Orleans.

By then, however, the United States had been at war with Germany for almost a year, and German U-boats were known to prowl the Atlantic coast. Lately, they had even been spotted in the Gulf. When the Heredia stopped at Corpus Christi, Ray Downs begged the port authority to let the family disembark, but he was refused. A few nights later, on May 19, two German torpedoes struck the side of the Heredia and all four of the Downses were swept into the Gulf.

How they found each other, after surviving three days on the open sea, is the subject of this thrilling narrative, told largely from Sonny’s point of view. (Sonny was a major source for this narrative.) Faith plays a large part in the story, for although Ray was not particularly religious at the time, Ina saw her trust in the Lord rewarded after a tortuous ordeal. Eighty years removed from WWII, most of us don’t realize how close the War came to U.S. territory, and how history could have gone in another direction. National as well as personal fate was in the hands of the Lord.

Note: Attacked at Sea is a Young-Reader Edition of the authors’ So Close to Home: a True Story of an American Family’s Fight for Survival During World War II.

Consideration:

• This nonfiction narrative is an excellent way to explore how people respond to extreme stress. How do you think you would handle being adrift at sea? What would be your source of strength?

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic/literary value: 4

Also at Redeemed Reader

• Review: Michael Tougias co-wrote The Finest Hours, the true story of a heroic rescue off the coast of Cape Cod.
• Review: For a fuller treatment of WWII submarine warfare, see Dive! World War II Stories of Sailors and Submarines. Also, Torpedoed!
• Review: In the Pacific as well, the War came closer than most people knew. The novel My Friend the Enemy features the “Fu-Go Project,” a Japanese plan to bomb the West Coast.

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