MWSA Book Review
Author: Robert Skole
Publisher: iUniverse
Reviewer: Bill McDonald – President of the MWSA
Japanese, Americans and Baseball in Sweden in WWII
I never gave any thought about what Sweden’s role in WWII was. I certainly had no idea that so many of our bomber crews ended up interned there during the war. In Robert Skole’s book, “Jumpin Jimminy – A World War II Baseball Saga: American Flyboys And Japanese Submariners Battle It Out In A Swedish World Series” you will get a look, however improvable, at the life of a crew of American B-17 that ends up in Sweden.
In the book’s Prologue, the author gives the reader some interesting facts and a look about what happened to those American and British bombers that could not make it back to England and who headed north to neutral Sweden. According to the book, just in 1944 alone, a total of 119 American bombers showed up in Sweden because of fuel shortages, battle damages or just mechanical problems. The crews were not exactly POWS and some were even housed in hotels, private homes and boarding houses. They were given money to buy civilian clothing and a little extra allotment for their personal needs. They could even wander around and visit friends and tour the country or work if they wanted. Not exactly a life of a captured POW. It is from this understanding that the reader accepts the premise of this delightful WWII tale about baseball and war.
The crew of the Jumpin' Jimminy who happened to crash land their B-17, are welcomed with open arms in Sweden, not just because they are Americans; but because they also happen to be the best baseball team in the Eighth Air Force. However, they are not the only crew that has great ball players in Sweden. There is this Japanese submariner crew that has been kicking the butt of the local Swedish teams. The Swedish Major in charge of the internees thinks the addition of these new American’s is truly God sent and he has plans for them that does not involve the outcome of war – but baseball!
The Americans take advantage of their situation and hook up with the OSS and carry on some covert activities. However, the real flavor of this story rests with the very fertile imagination of the writer. He builds his characters around this plot and gives them all substance and life. The dialogs work very well and the combination of plot and character development brings all these literary ingredients together for one very entertaining book. You are not going to read another book like this one in your lifetime. It is irreverent and humorous and it is a nice way to spend a couple of leisure hours forgetting about all the stresses of the real world.
