Torpedoed!: A World War II Story of a Sinking Passenger Ship and Two Children's Survival at Sea
kid’s world a The kids of Cleveland Ohio were abuzz with excite ment in May 1939 A new comic strip starring a hero called Superman began appearing in newspapers around the country for the first time The comic featured some one everyone could look up to and the Superman char acter was the creation of two young hometown fellows Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster Stella Walsh a 1936 Olym pic track star and Cleveland resident was doggedly training for the 100-meter and 200-meter races and the broad jump for the upcoming 1940 Olympics in Fin land People who had been at her house claimed Stella a Polish immigrant already had over 600 trophies and medals from world competitions stacked up in her bed room Zealous Cleveland Indians baseball fans looked 1
2 ToRPEDoED forward to night games now that the municipal stadium was installing electric lights And best of all school was soon to be out for summer Florence Kelly a 14-year-old ninth grader at Maple Heights High School in a suburb of Cleveland had more reason than most to look forward to the end of the school year In June she and her mom Mary were traveling by ship across the Atlantic Ocean to the Isle of Man to visit relatives Florence’s dad Harry Kelly wasn’t able to leave his job as manager of a chain of grocery stores so his wife and daughter would set out on their own Florence knew how lucky she was to spend the entire summer vacation in a faraway British island laced with sparkling Florence Kelly and her mother Mary Courtesy Florence Kelly Roseman
A KID’S WoRlD 3 beaches and ocean breezes She knew many kids could only dream of a vacation like this because the Great Depression had caused many adults to lose their jobs About 400 miles from Florence 11-year-old Russell Park was finishing up fifth grade in Philadelphia Penn sylvania Like Florence Russell was an only child Unlike Florence Russell had been on family cruises before with his parents Each year Alexander and Rebecca Park planned summer holidays to intriguing places The sum mer before the Parks had traveled on the Queen Mary to England France and Holland Russell was fascinated with ships and sailing and looked forward to his annual trek to ports around the world The Park family was anticipating a lovely summer visiting family in Ireland in 1939 They were ready to enjoy fine beaches pleasant rail tours and pristine seaside golf resorts In May as the Kelly and Park families planned their vacations they weren’t expecting any problems that would keep them from having fun-filled relaxing holi days in Europe The parents were busy packing and making travel arrangements Florence and Russell were doing what kids did in 1939 having fun and sharing spe cial times with friends Teenagers all over America were dancing to Peckin with the Penguins Dusting the Donkey aka the Pay off and Dipsy Doodle performed by Tommy Dorsey a popular band leader in 1939 He was one of Florence’s favorites She and her best friend Eileen loved big band music
