Bataan Death March. Kamikazes. Hell ships (or “marus,” in Japanese). These words conjure up harsh memories of World War II in the Pacific Theater. They also bring to the forefront images of prisoners of war and the horrors of wartime atrocities.
Though these gruesome aspects of war aren’t often easy to portray in novels and historical fiction, “Hold Strong,” by the trio of researchers and writers Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree, has achieved the unachievable. It does so with their cast of strong characters backed by their meticulous research.
Authors Robert Dugoni (Douglas Sonders), Jeff Langholz (Courtesy of Jeff Langholz), and Chris Crabtree CarlosCharpentier_Live Images
“Hold Strong” tells the story of a young small-town couple who are separated by the Great Depression and WWII. One journeys from rural America to the heat and humidity of the prisons in Manila, the Philippines. The other goes to Washington’s gleaming office buildings, where top secret branches of the military operate to secure the nation’s freedom. They hope to be reunited.
The Protagonists
Sam Carlson, a high school student, is from the small rural town of Eagle Grove, Minnesota. Hard hit by the Depression, his family struggles to make ends meet. Sam has taken on many jobs, one of which was as a projectionist at the local movie theater in exchange for his dinner of a bag of popcorn and a soda. While working the film reels, he’s free to dream and imagine himself as Fred Astaire, dancing with his version of Ginger, his high school sweetheart Sarah Haber.However, Sam knows he has to do more to help support his family, so he enlists with the National Guard. He’s promised three square meals a day, a crisp uniform, and a salary. But when the National Guard is federalized—meaning, it’s now part of the U.S. Army—he finds himself training and preparing for the country’s entry into the war. His first overseas assignment is to the Philippines—more than 7,000 miles away from his beloved Sarah. Less than four months after arriving, Sam finds himself a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp.
Meanwhile, Sarah makes her own plans. A bright math student, she’s selected by the U.S. Navy for a special job. She makes her way to Washington to secure her spot in “communications intelligence.”
Knowing that Sam is somewhere in the Philippines as a POW, Sarah makes her way to Honolulu into the Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Area (JICPOA), where she decodes intercepted Japanese communications. As she makes a breakthrough discovery of the Japanese ship Arisan Maru holding American POWs, she deals with the fact that the information she uncovered may lead to Sam’s death.
Though the love story of Sam and Sarah is the novel’s central theme, this book isn’t just a romance novel. Set against the backdrop of one of the most horrendous aspects of the Pacific Theater—the POW experience—their love story lightens the mood and serves as a welcome contrast to the detailed horrors recounted in this book.
Based on Facts Both Good and Bad
Sarah represents a group of intelligent, independent young women who worked to find patterns and important information embedded in intercepted transmissions. Though much has been written about Bletchley Park and the indomitable group of codebreakers who resided in the English estate-turned-military-compound, little is written, however, about America’s own little cohort of cryptanalysts. They saw their own brand of action in their offices on Nebraska Avenue in the nation’s capital. Sarah represents members of JICPOA, in charge of the intelligence war in the Pacific region, and Fleet Radio Unit, Pacific (FRUPAC), who handled “Ultra secret” sensitive information.The authors strove to recreate the wartime stories as close to the actual accounts of those who lived those dark days. Almost 100 pages of endnotes testify to the amount of research used to add realistic and factual details to animate the novel’s characters. When Sam’s tank driver, Pete Chavez, yells that they’re “going on a hike” in reference to the Death March, this was based on a survivor’s account of the march. He used the same phrase.
"Death March Starts" from the Library of Congress. Public Domain
Scenes of the Arisan Maru under siege were based on the account of one of the survivors of that hell ship. Only 9 survivors out of 1781 prisoners escaped. Sgt. 1st Class Calvin Graef described where the torpedoes hit the ship in his retelling to author Melissa Masterson in the book “Ride the Waters to Freedom.” These details were used in “Hold Strong.”
Launch of the Japanese Arisan Maru. The ship was torpedoed by an American submarine. Public Domain
True-to-life events are neither watered down nor sanitized. Sam’s character is a composite of survivors’ accounts from the Pacific Theater—from those who endured the 65-mile long march in the unforgiving sun, the inhumane treatment in prison camps, and the subhuman conditions in the holds of these “marus.” The presence of real-life chaplain Father Thomas Scecina balances the heavy topics. He performed last rites and gave as proper a send-off as he could for compatriots who saw the ocean as their final burial ground. He died when the ship sank, and his story is remembered through those who lived to tell the tale.
“You have to live, Sam,” Father Tom exhorts in the book. “Someone needs to tell the people back home what happened here and in the camps. Someone needs to show them where the bodies are buried. You need to be a witness for all these men. That’s your new mission, Sam. Your new purpose for being.”
Perhaps this is also what kept the authors going as they finally completed their 12-year project with the publication of “Hold Strong” this January. Readers already familiar with the Pacific Theater of the war will find this book a great addition to their home libraries for its new information and insights.
The sinking of the Arisan Maru took place on Oct. 24, 1944. The last significant POW rescue in the Philippines took place on Jan. 30, 1945—80 years ago. The book’s timely release is a great reminder, not just of this dark chapter in history, but also that when all hope seems lost, we must “hold strong” to hope.
‘Hold Strong’
By Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree
Lake Union Publishing, Jan. 28, 2025
Hardcover: 555 pages
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