How I Chose My Title

I suppose for some authors and writers, a title comes easy. Not so in my case.

I planned to title my book about the USS Franklin, “Abandon? Hell, We’re Still Afloat!”

That would make a great title, especially from a marketing perspective. The title would start with the letter “A” and how could someone browsing in the history section of a bookstore not be attracted to a book with that title? But I reluctantly gave up that title since I couldn’t verify it.

The source came from page 107 of the book, “A Call To Duty: The Life and Times of Leslie E. Gehres,” where Author William J. Stewart cites A.A. Hoehling’s book, “The Franklin Comes Home,” (page 79) which states that Captain Gehres said this in response to a message from Admiral Mitscher giving him permission to abandon ship. However, Hoehling doesn’t cite his source (indeed he has no notes) and I have been unable to find this exact quote anywhere else, including the interviews Gehres and other officers conducted in May 1945 when they returned to Brooklyn. The closest Gehres came to answering the question, “why didn’t you abandon ship,” was “we were still afloat.” In fact, it’s quite likely he said something to that effect given the emotions he probably felt at the time. But I cannot verify it.

One thing you should know about me is that I am serious about adding to the scholarship around the events that happened in the Pacific Theater (PTO) of World War II in general and on March 19 and after, in particular. I am a stickler for accuracy, and you’ll see that reflected in my use of endnotes in my book to cite the facts I publish. Because I cannot find a second source documenting that Captain Gehres said “Abandon? Hell, we’re still afloat,” I’m not going to use it. (Shakes head in disappointment.)

Two months ago, I started researching the news articles published on May 18, 1945. The Franklin had arrived in Brooklyn in late April and the Navy released the embargo on news about its fight on May 17th allowing Captain Gehres and others to be interviewed. There had been a United Press (UP) reporter from the Kansas City Star, Alvin S. McCoy, embedded on the Franklin that day whose dispatch wound up on the front pages of numerous newspapers across the country.

Then I discovered a second UP article with a lede that read, “The USS Franklin in the space of a few hours last March 19 produced heroes by the hundreds.”

Heroes By The Hundreds!

BOOM! There was my title. And, while the letter “H” doesn’t come at the beginning of the alphabet, “Heroes By the Hundreds,” is still a title that will draw the curious.

And that’s how “Heroes By the Hundreds: The Saga of the USS Franklin,” became the title of my book.

Now I just have to write the rest of it!