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. Pug's wife Rhoda continues her affair with Palmer Kirby and Byron's 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.

It's early 1942 and Pug Henry is still in command of the USS Northampton. Pamela Tudsbury and her father find themselves in Singapore. The local administration, both civil and military, believes the island outpost to be impregnable but a journalist friend convinces them otherwise. Nathalie Henry and her uncle Aaron decided to stay in Italy. They have been hoping to get exit visas allowing them to travel to Switzerland but these have consistently been delayed. What they do not know is that Aaron's onetime student, now a German diplomat in Italy, has been instructed to find a way to place Italian Jews into Nazi hands. Nathalie's friend and onetime fiancé Leslie Slote is now assigned to the US Legation in Bern and he comes into information on the German atrocities taking place in Eastern Europe. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, visits Auschwitz and is given a demonstration of its capabilities.

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.

Natalie Henry, baby Louis and her uncle, Aaron Jastrow, put into effect their plan to escape from Italy. Their hope of traveling from the Italian coast directly to Lisbon are dashed however and they soon find themselves going to Elba, then Corsica and finally to Marseilles where they are taken in by a local Jewish family who have been regularly assisting refugees. There, Natalie re-discovers her Jewish heritage. Byron has been posted temporarily to Gibraltar to work with the British and he has been making regular courier runs to the American Consulate in Marseilles. Rhoda Henry returns to Washington but stops in Chicago having decided to end her relationships with Palmer Kirby. She is soon pursued however by Colonel Harrison "Hack" Peters. General Halder tells Adolf Hitler that he has no chance of winning the war on the Eastern Front.

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 Army's defeat of Rommel's Afrika Korps. The Russians are putting up stiff resistance on the Eastern Front and Hitler approves a new battle plan. At Auschwitz, the Nazi's 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 Henry's ship, Northampton, is severely damaged in an encounter with the Japanese.

Pug Henry returns to Washington where President Roosevelt asks him to take an assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. There, the U.S. Ambassador is none too pleased with the lack of acknowledgment from the Russians on the benefits of lend-lease but Pug is impressed with the work they are doing. All efforts to get Natalie, Louis and Aaron out of Lourdes fail and they learn that all of the internees are being transferred to Baden Baden in Germany. At Pearl Harbor, Byron reports for duty as Executive Officer on a new submarine, the Moray, commanded by his old friend "Lady" Aster. What he doesn't realize is that his friend is having an affair with his widowed sister-in-law, Janice.