War and Remembrance: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Herman Wouk

First published: 1978

Genre: Novel

Locale: Sites of action in World War II

Plot: Historical

Time: 1941–1945

Victor “Pug” Henry, a career naval officer serving as a captain at the outbreak of World War II. Deprived of a battleship command when the Japanese sink his ship at Pearl Harbor, Henry commands the USS Northampton, a light cruiser in the Pacific fleet, and participates in the Battle of Midway. He returns to shore duty, where his close association with President Franklin D. Roosevelt leads to his assignments in various posts both in Washington, D.C., and abroad, handling sensitive political and military matters. He travels to Russia to assist Harry Hopkins in negotiating Lend-Lease matters with Joseph Stalin before returning to sea as a rear admiral in charge of a battleship division. His division participates in the historic battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. During these turbulent years, Henry struggles to salvage his marriage to his wife of a quarter century and to deal with his growing feelings of love for his younger British friend, Pamela Tudsbury. Eventually, the Henrys are divorced, and Victor marries Pamela shortly before becoming naval aide to President Harry Truman.

Rhoda Henry, who has been married to Victor Henry for more than twenty-five years but is growing increasingly dis-enchanted with the marriage as she passes her fiftieth year. While her husband is at sea or abroad serving during World War II, Rhoda keeps house in Washington, D.C., participating in the limited social life there. For some time she agonizes over her relationship with businessman Palmer Kirby, with whom she has had an affair. She then meets Colonel Harrison Peters, whom she marries after divorcing Victor Henry.

Natalie Jastrow, an American Jew, thirty years old, living in Siena, Italy. Although she is married to Byron Henry, she stays with her uncle, noted historian Aaron Jastrow, who refuses to leave Siena despite advice to evacuate before the Nazis make it impossible to leave. Natalie finally persuades her uncle to leave, but because he is well known and she has her child with her, they are easily identified. She makes repeated attempts to engineer a return for all three to U.S. custody, but she finds herself being taken further into the Nazi circle. First, they are detained in Italy, then they land in Germany, and eventually they are assigned to the Germans' model concentration camp at Thieresenstadt. There, Natalie is coerced into working to trick representatives of the International Red Cross regarding the Nazis' real program for Jews. She is separated from her son and transferred to Auschwitz, but she is rescued when Germany surrenders. After recuperating in Paris, she is reunited with Byron.

Pamela Tudsbury, who works as an assistant to her father, a noted journalist, and later as assistant to Lord Bourne-Wilke of the British Air Corps. A woman of thirty, Pamela has fallen in love with fifty-year-old Victor Henry. She witnesses the fall of Singapore and is in North Africa when her father is killed. Unable to marry Victor, she becomes a military assistant in the British war effort. Her postings take her to both Moscow and Washington, D.C., where she meets Victor to renew her relationship. She is engaged briefly to Lord Bourne-Wilke, but his death from war injuries frees her just as Victor is divorced. She moves to Washington, where she realizes her ambition of becoming Mrs. Victor Henry.

Byron Henry, the second son of Victor Henry and a submariner in the Pacific fleet. Although he is married to Natalie Jastrow, he is separated from her and tries repeatedly to get reassigned to the European theater so that he can help her escape the Nazis. Aboard ship, he proves to be a highly competent officer, becoming executive officer and eventually commander of a boat. Prolonged separation from his wife and repeated trips to his widowed sister-in-law's home test his fidelity, but he remains committed to his wife. After hostilities end, he is able to go to Europe to locate his missing child and reunite his family in Paris.

Aaron Jastrow, a noted historian in his sixties. He believes that his status as an American will protect him from the Nazis'attempt to round up all Jews in Europe. He relies on a former student of his, Werner Beck, to protect him, only to learn that Beck is attempting to get him to collaborate with the Nazis. He is shipped to various detention areas and at Thieresenstadt is beaten into submission and made to work for his captors. When he is no longer of use to the Nazis, he is shipped to Auschwitz and sent to the gas chamber.

Warren Henry, Victor Henry's eldest son, a career naval officer. Warren's assignment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise places him in the thick of the action at the Battle of Midway. He distinguishes himself in combat but is killed in the final sortie of the engagement, leaving behind a widow and a young son.

Madeline Henry, the Henrys' only daughter and their youngest child. Slightly older than twenty years, she has secured a lucrative position as assistant to radio personality Hugh Cleveland, but the star's amorous advances put off her family. She eventually sees that this relationship will go nowhere; she returns home and takes up with an old beau, Simon Anderson, a naval officer. The couple marry and are transferred to Los Alamos, New Mexico, the site of the atom bomb testing.

Berel Jastrow, a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Although he is more than sixty years old, Jastrow is healthy and cunning. He manages to get a job on a work crew and becomes involved in collecting evidence on atrocities at the camp. At an opportune moment, he escapes and makes his way first to the Soviet Union and then to the West, where he delivers evidence to authorities who are able to make public the horrors of the Germans' treatment of Jews.

Werner Beck, a German diplomat, formerly a student of Aaron Jastrow in the United States. Beck makes several gestures to guarantee the Jastrows their safety from persecution. He is intent on securing Aaron's services as a collaborator who can assure the world that the Nazis are not monsters; when Jastrow balks, Beck finds pressure being put on him, especially from Adolf Eichmann.

Harrison Peters, an Army colonel in his mid-fifties. Peters is a ladies'man in Washington, where he works on the top-secret Manhattan Project. He falls in love with Rhoda Henry and marries her after she is divorced from Victor. He plays a significant role in assembling the personnel and material for the successful testing of the atom bomb at Los Alamos.

Palmer Frederick Kirby, a widower in his fifties. An independent engineering consultant and manufacturer, Kirby helps the government build the successful atom bomb. After having an affair with Rhoda Henry, he sees the relationship die when she refuses to divorce her husband. He gives up his romantic interests and devotes his full attention to the war effort.

Simon Anderson, a Naval Academy graduate and former classmate of Warren Henry. Working on research projects in Washington, Anderson makes the most of an opportunity to resume his courtship of Madeline Henry; they marry, to the delight of the Henry family. At work, his talents are recognized by superiors, who assign him to projects that involve him in nuclear research. He is reassigned to Los Alamos to assist with the testing of the first atom bomb.

Janice Henry, the wife of Warren Henry and the daughter of Senator Isaac LaCouture. She and her infant son reside in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, while Warren is at sea. She is crushed by the news of Warren's death at Midway but stays in Hawaii to help the war effort. She has an affair with Carter Aster, whom she met through her brother-in-law Byron, but keeps the news from Byron because it becomes clear to her that he needs her emotional support in his struggle to learn the fate of his wife and child in Nazi Germany.

Carter “Lady” Aster, a naval submarine officer. A fearless and clever warrior, Aster takes over the submarine from his inept commanding officer and establishes a reputation throughout the Pacific fleet for his exploits in sinking enemy ships. Ashore, he takes up with Janice Henry, Warren's widow, though he has no genuine love for her. He is killed by enemy aircraft while his submarine is surfaced in hostile waters.

Armin von Roon, a major general in the German army. His assignment on the German General Staff places him in a position to witness the exploits of Adolf Hitler from close proximity, and his account of World War II from the Germans' perspective, written while he is imprisoned for war crimes, is interspersed with the story of the Henry family to give a portrait of grand strategy and to render a retrospective assessment of the growing derangement of Hitler as the war progressed.

Alistair Tudsbury, an internationally renowned British correspondent. His radio and newspaper accounts of the war outline the demise of the British empire. He is present at the fall of Singapore and is killed by a land mine while out with the British forces in North Africa.

Leslie Slote, an American diplomat, formerly Natalie Jastrow's lover. He works to get Natalie and her uncle free from German control. As a result, he learns of the atrocities at the concentration camps and attempts to make the news public. Stymied by superiors, he becomes frustrated and quits the U.S. State Department. He joins the Office of Strategic Services and dies in France in operations incident to the D day invasion.

Sammy Mutterperl, a Jew confined to the Auschwitz camp. Because Sammy has earned the trust of his Nazi captors, he is allowed to lead a work crew. He recruits Berel Jastrow for his work party. Together, they build many of the structures that will be used as gas chambers, all the while planning a break-out. Sammy dies trying to escape, after killing several of his guards.

Branch Hoban, a naval officer and commander of the submarine on which Byron Henry is serving when he sees his first combat. Although he is a stern disciplinarian and able commander in training, Hoban cracks under the pressure of combat and is relieved at sea by his executive officer, Carter Aster.

Philip Rule, a minor U.S. State Department official. Posted in Europe when World War II breaks out, he is eventually transferred to the Far East and is in Singapore when the Tudsburys arrive for a tour of British defenses there. He attempts to rekindle his old romance with Pamela Tudsbury, almost succeeding as he catches her in a weak moment when she is sure that she has lost Victor Henry forever.

Raymond Spruance, a naval rear admiral (later vice admiral) who commands the U.S. forces at the battle of Midway and later serves as chief of staff for Pacific forces. Spruance shows exceptional courage and skill in managing naval forces at Midway, as well as prudence in the heat of battle, a trait that earns for him little respect from junior underlings but the grudging admiration of senior officers.

William “Bull” Halsey, a naval vice admiral and the hero of the American fleet in the Pacific. Sidelined with illness that keeps him from commanding the forces at Midway Island, Halsey takes the U.S. task force against the Japanese at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. Victor Henry commands one of Halsey's battleship divisions there. Halsey's actions appear rash and chaotic to some of the senior officers, though the United States emerges victorious.

Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer responsible for implementing Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jews. He crosses paths with Natalie and Aaron Jastrow on several occasions, culminating in a meeting at the model camp at Thieresenstadt, where the Nazis try to convince the International Red Cross that they are treating the Jews kindly. Eichmann brutalizes both Jastrows into cooperating with his scheme.