The 2000 United States Naval Institute Naval History "Author of the Year"

AUTHOR OF THE YEAR AWARD AT US NAVAL ACADEMY                                                                                 

 A passion for realism and authenticity has been the principle focus for most of Jerome M. O’Connor’s journalistic production.  In 1965, his first feature story described the disrepair and neglect of one of Chicago’s largest and most important outdoor sculptural works, Lorado Taft’s Fountain of Time, on the famous Midway. The four page color feature in the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine caused a public outcry and resulted in funds to preserve the work.

In 1973, also for the Chicago Tribune, the difficulties facing the Republic of Ireland as it considered joining the then Common Market (EC) appeared as the lead article in the Tribune Sunday Perspective section. Another article reported from the barricades in Belfast, as pitched battles were waged between Protestant and Catholic extremists.

To get as close as possible to both the action and the problems, in August 1972 O’Connor donned British camouflage and a flak jacket, and joined a Midnight patrol of the 40^th Royal Marine Commando enforcing a dusk to dawn curfew in the "no go" areas in troubled Belfast. On this patrol O’Connor learned that the Commandos had been trained by U.S. Marines, and supplied with night vision scopes by the U.S. military.  Reporting this development resulted in an investigation led by Sen. Edward  Kennedy.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The first in the continuing "living history" series, "Unveiling the Churchill War Rooms" in the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, was the first to reveal the existence of the undiscovered  Churchill Cabinet Rooms across from St. James Park in central London.  Revealing the intact underground enclave and its unchanged appearance contributed to its 1982 opening as a museum, now one of London's most visited.  In 2005, a vast new section opened to the public.  The author first saw it with a one-cell flashlight in 1978..

"Secret at Bletchley Park" in Naval History magazine, described the breaking of the seemingly impenetrable Enigma cipher by top secret ULTRA at an unknown facility outside London.  The story resulted from the author's meeting with a one-time "secret lady" who, along with thousands of others, staffed the still relatively unknown enclave. The war's most important secret revealed Nazi Germany's intentions often before even Hitler knew about them.  Top-secret ULTRA's disclosures ended the war years earlier than anticipated.   

Gray Wolves Den"  in Naval History, revealed the still existing and now partially opened former German U boat bases in Brittany.  For this work, the U.S. Naval Institute awarded O'Connor its Naval History "Author of the Year."  The extraordinary engineering and operational triumph made the five bases virtually invulnerable to Allied air attacks.  Remaining operational until VE Day, the U-boat bases are the largest and most complete vestige of the war, and a must read for historians.    Rare wartime images added              

The Wolves Elegant Lair"  from Naval History, describes a rare visit to the intact, undamaged Lorient, France headquarters of Admiral Karl Donitz.  In the chateau's elegant interior, the wolf-pack architect planned the U-boat campaigns that almost defeated Britain early in  World War Two.  Rare author photos reveal an unchanged interior and the same rooms where Admiral Doenitz interviewed returning U-boat captains, and pondered intricately detailed Atlantic charts.  See the multi-compartmented attached operational bunker in the only known images from the unchanged U-boat command.  All that is missing is the wartime equipment.  

"Allan Turing – Enigma,"  from British Heritage magazine, recounts the sometimes bizarre and little known saga of one of the 20^th Century’s most original  and most neglected intellects.  Combining the almost requisite traits of absolute genius and near certifiable madman, Allan Turing  cracked the "unbreakable" Nazi code.  But years earlier in 1936, Turing also theorized an automatic problem-solving machine that defined in all ways except by name, the operating system of a modern digital computer.  

"The Ghost Ships of Task Force Fourteen" from Proceedings magazine (US Naval Institute), continues as the first and only disclosure of a top-secret pre-war British troop convoy to Singapore.  Violating the strict US Neutrality Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved Prime Minister Winston Churchill's request to transport British troops aboard America's three most modern and important ocean-liners.  Although thousands of Tommies died in cruel captivity after the fall of "fortress" Singapore, decades later the voyage remains ignored in every history about World War Two.  Knowing that an undefeated Britain was America's first line of defense, read why FDR broke the Neutrality Act, risking impeachment by the US Congress, to approve a desperate mission that began one month before the Pearl Harbor attack.  Included are National Archives declassified reproductions of U.S. Navy orders.

"Ghost Ships," a cover feature in the February 2003 World War Two magazine, expands on the The Ghost Ships of Task Force Fourteen.  Three American ocean liners with 20,000 British troops evaded both U- boats and the Imperial Japanese Navy.  Departing US shores before Pearl Harbor, the defenseless transports arrived under heavy air attack in mid January 1942.  America was now at war with Japan, with the newest and most luxurious American trans-Atlantic ocean liners now the most forward deployed vessels in the US Navy.  As bombs fell and Japanese troops were poised to invade, the transports successfully landed all 20,800 Tommies. Amazingly, the three ships - one damaged from enemy attack -  returned safely to the United States.  But only torture and starvation awaited 7,000 soldiers of the 18th Division, who died from disease or starvation in the notorious Changi Prison or in labor camps.                                 

"Roosevelt's Undeclared War,"  the February 2004 cover feature in Naval History magazine.  From research at the National Archives, the author proves by reproductions of pre Pearl Harbor "shoot on sight" orders to the Atlantic Fleet, that the first duty of an American president is to protect and defend the Constitution.  This was as true in 1941 as in today's world-wide war on terror.  FDR had no regrets in precipitating war with Nazi Germany if, by avoiding a high-seas confrontation, it would have meant Britain's defeat.  But the1941secret orders also suggest that an early entry into World War Two for the US may have averted the Pearl Harbor attack. 

"Southwick House - Where D Day Began," explores with rare photos the unchanged interior of the stately home near Portsmouth where, under desperate weather conditions, General Dwight D. Eisenhower made the decision, "let's go," that changed history and made Allied victory possible in the climactic battle of World War Two.  Another place forgotten by history exists now as it did then. 

QUEEN MARY 2 LECTURE SERIES in spring and fall 2008, will introduce trans-Atlantic passengers aboard the luxury liner, to inter-active programs examining unique but little known aspects of history.  The first three one-hour programs are: 1) MASTER BUILDERS - How the arch influenced the art of architecture from Roman times to the Chicago School of Architecture,   2) GRAY WOLVES DEN - How Germany nearly won WW II before America's entry from wolf-pack attacks launched from five indestructible bases along the Bay of Biscay in France.  (Based on text and images already on this site.)  3) SECRET SERVICES -  Rare wartime photos from inside the 'holy of holies,' Prime Minister Churchill's top-secret site from where he conducted Britain's war of survival.                                                                    BASED ON MATERIAL FROM THE LATEST 2008 FEATURE NOW ON THIS SITE.

Jerome M. O’Connor, a Chicago area resident, writes and lectures about the troubled Twentieth Century and its defining event, World War Two, employing original on-location photo and video images.    JEROMEOCONNOR@aol.com