During the early afternoon hours of April 24, 1944, Second Lieutenant James J. Goebel, Jr. finds himself floating alone toward the war-torn Belgian landscape below. What was his safe passage home, his B-24 Liberator, is now engulfed in flames and hurls to the ground only to report back with a distant thud upon the earth. Just moments earlier, the B-24 and its crew of ten were en route back to England after their inaugural bombing mission and the successful pounding of the Nazi war machine. At the hand of sheer randomness and bad luck, an enemy fighter selected their heavy bomber for retribution from the 230 B-24s dispatched earlier that morning.
Forced to jump for their lives, Goebel and his fellow crew members were now scattered along the Belgium countryside. Soon to be a downed airmen in a hostile enemy occupied territory, the odds of survival are against him. With two men running toward his drifting canopy, Goebel fears he may never see home again.
The Lucky Seven is a gripping true story of escape, evasion and résistance.
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: The book primarily follows James Goebel Jr. as an American airman stranded in Belgium during World War II. As this was enemy territory, the core of the plot is about his survival against seemingly insurmountable odds, his fellow crew members, and the résistance fighters who helped lead Goebel to safety.
Prose: The Lucky Seven is a finely written and well-researched memoir that offers vibrant historical detail and succeeds in placing readers alongside Goebel and the crew on the B-24 Liberator as they struggle to survive.
Originality: Stories from the WWII historical era are familiar, but The Lucky Seven provides a particularly moving and detailed account.
Character/Execution: While readers may feel one step removed from Goebel's experiences (as the author notes, he wasn't able to fully dive into interviewing his father-in-law before his death), the storytelling remains immersive and alluring.
Date Submitted: January 02, 2024
Holden (author of Do Better!) reveals the incredible true story of James Goebel Jr, an Allied airman in the second World War who was shot down over Belgium in 1944. Over the course of 39 days, Goebel managed, with extensive aid from the Belgian and French Resistance, to evade detection, escape Nazi patrols, and make his way with six comrades to Switzerland. Several of those who helped Goebel escape were themselves captured and tortured to death by the Nazis. The Lucky Seven reads like an adventure story, with the Nazis always looming as a threat, but Holden’s always attentive to the textures of life as it was lived, as the stranded flyers in hiding must battle boredom as much as any other enemy. Holden, Goebel’s son-in-law, tells the story with some fictional liberties, but with a firm bedrock of research. Goebel-and those on the run with him-often failed to be cautious, as they took contemporaneous notes and, even, photos with those who were hiding them. Those photos, together with other family photos from Goebel and the people who aided him, help add depth and humanity to the story. Holden also provides extensive resources for others to follow his research, including an extensive reference list, endnotes and supplemental information in a series of appendices. Unfortunately, he doesn’t include a map, which would help the reader track Goebel’s escape.
Holden tells this story with tension and pathos. The reader feels the anxiety and elation of the downed airmen as they hide and journey across Europe, even as plans move forward for D-Day. Although Goebel never flew more than one combat mission, having been shot down on his first bombing raid, his bravery still stands as an inspiration to his family and, thanks to Holden’s work, to all the readers of this book. Readers interested in escape and evasion in the great wars, or simply looking for a compelling adventure, will appreciate this accomplished telling.
Takeaway: Riveting true-life story of escape and survival behind Nazi lines in World War II.
Comparable Titles: Juliann K. Pendolino’s The Story in My Father’s Footlockers, Neal Bascomb’s The Escape Artists
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
