William J. Ruhe (1915–2003)

SLOW DANCE TO PEARL HARBOR: A TIN CAN ENSIGN IN PREWAR AMERICA, Captain William J. Ruhe's candid memoir of his duties as a young ensign responsible for communications aboard a dstroyer in the year leading up to the war is amazingly detailed in its depiction of the mood of the American public in those tense times before that "day which will live in infamy." Rohe kept a journal during that time, with his uncensored thoughts about the hardass Queeg-like ship's Captain who rode him hard show more constantly. A 1939 graduate of the Naval Academy, Ruhe, a native of Allentown, PA, was also a talented painter, who found many opportunities to hone his art, painting villages, neighborhoods, and landscapes in such varied locations as Rotterdam, Puerto Rico, Virginia, Panama and Halifax, this last place a destination for deliveriy of ten old destroyers taken out of mothballs for use by the British navy. Ruhe later transited the Panama Canal to San Diego. A party animal, he also has much to say about the women he romances along the way, even though he thought he had a girl friend n the Netherlands (from a previous tour aboard a Cruiser). That relationship was summarily sunk when she married a German officer of the occupation force. As an artist - he was also a musician - Ruhe was subjected to extra abuse, as such inclinations were discouraged by the military.

Ruhe's stories about the pre-war Navy brought to mind another book about the between-wars Army that I read nearly twenty years ago, Victor Vogel's SOLDIERS OF THE OLD ARMY - terrific book. This one was almost as good. Highly recommended, especially for military history buffs. Captain Ruhe died in 2003.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA show less