War and Remembrance

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Captain Victor Pug Henry finds himself in command of a cruiser, the USS Northampton. His son Warren is a naval aviator on the USS Enterprise and son Byron continues his service on a submarine, the USS Swordfish. Pugs wife Rhoda continues her affair with Palmer Kirby and Byrons wife Natalie has a difficult decision to make when a German Foreign Office official suggests that she and her uncle Aaron Jastrow stay in Italy rather than travel to Palestine. Pamela Tudsbury and her father start a world tour where he will report for the BBC from the far reaches of the British Empire. She is quick to let Pug know that they will also be stopping in Hawaii.

The Henrys have a family reunion of sorts when Pug and Byron join Warren and Janice to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They are joined by Pamela Tudsbury and her father who managed to leave Singapore before it fell to the Japanese. Byron applies for a transfer to the Atlantic submarine force after he learns that his wife Natalie and her uncle Aaron Jastrow were not evacuated from Italy with other Americans. Pug and Warren soon depart on their respective ships headed for the Battle of Midway. Pug has a relatively minor contribution compared to son Warren who flies several successful sorties. Natalie and her uncle have a plan to escape the clutches of the Germans. Rhoda Henry travels to Los Angeles to see daughter Madeline and son Byron who have just arrived. She also sees Pamela Tudsbury who has something to tell her.

Byron and Nathalie are reunited in Marseilles but the American Consul counsels them not to try and leave France without the proper documentation, so Byron returns to Gibraltar alone. Their plans to meet in Lisbon go awry however when, in November 1942, the Allies invade North Africa. As a result, the Germans occupy Vichy France and the borders are closed. Aaron, Louis and Nathalie travel to Lourdes to await what they hope will be a quick prisoner exchange. Pamela Tudsbury and her father Alistair are in Egypt where he is reporting on the Eighth Armys defeat of Rommels Afrika Korps. The Russians are putting up stiff resistance on the Eastern Front and Hitler approves a new battle plan. At Auschwitz, the Nazis complete construction of the gas chambers and the crematoria. Berel Jastrow and Sammy Mutterperl are transferred to a new work gang. In the South Pacific, Pug Henrys ship, Northampton, is severely damaged in an encounter with the Japanese.

Natalie, Louis and her uncle Aaron Jastrow find themselves in Paris having been transferred there from the prisoner exchange camp in Baden Baden courtesy of Aarons former student, the German diplomat Werner Beck. He thwarts their attempt to return to the exchange camp and they find themselves transferred to the so-called "paradise camp" of Theresienstadt, in Czechoslovakia. Byron Henry is at sea in the Pacific with his friend "Lady" Aster in command. He also learns of wife Natalies transfer to a new camp but doesnt get much more than that from the State Department. They have a very successful first mission but Ladys orders to shoot survivors off a Japanese troop ship dont sit well with everyone. Pamela Tudsbury makes her way to Moscow and has a brief meeting with Pug Henry. Berel Jastrow manages to escape from the concentration

Its 1944 and the Allies are preparing for D-day. Pug Henry is now a Rear Admiral and he again meets Pamela Tudsbury at her fiancés residence, but their meeting is brief as he must return to the Pacific fleet. They do decide they have a future together however. Some members of Hitlers High Command plot to assassinate him, but their first attempt is unsuccessful. Leslie Slote has joined the Army and parachutes behind enemy lines for the D-Day invasions. His job is to organize resistance fighters. After getting a last minute reprieve, Nathalie decides to accept Berel Jastrows offer of taking little Louis out of the camp. Before they can get him out, they find themselves in the SS interrogation center where the camp commander finds a way to make Nathalie more compliant.

Nathalie and Aaron spend four days traveling to Auschwitz; on arrival, one of them is sent directly to the gas chambers. In the Philippines Sea, Byron Henry, in command of a submarine, gets ready for his first action as Captain. Hitler plans for one, all out attack against the Allied Forces in the Ardennes forest. The battle is launched in mid-December but by January 1945, Allied air power has ensured the Nazis will not succeed. With the Red Army advancing from the East, Himmler orders that all traces of the death camps be eliminated. In Yalta, the Allied leaders meet for the last time to divide the recovered territories.