Ernie Coleman survived the worst open-sea defeat in US Navy history. But he paid a price and buried the horrific memories for decades. In the manner of Mitch Albom's highly successful Tuesdays with Morrie, 22 Minutes is a searing account of a survivor coming to terms with an incident he had suppressed for sixty years and the writer who painstakingly put together the clues about what had happened. Author Jeff Spevak was confronted with a dilemma: How do you tell the story of a man who can't bring himself to talk about the most epic moment of his life? A clever fellow who'd scrapped to survive in a fashion that seems quaint today, Coleman tested himself as a teenager by swimming across lakes, building homes from foraged lumber, running a Navy carpentry shop as though he were a member of the scamming crew of McHale's Navy. He was a self-taught sailor who'd become a legend on Lake Ontario. At age 96, Ernie was still sailing. Ernie Coleman talked of his life frankly - his honest remembrances of brawls and regrets. But he refused to talk about the one thing that had haunted him for decades: the sinking of his ship the Vincennes and his nightmares of men screaming in the burning sea, of incinerated corpses still manning the anti-aircraft guns. Through interviews with Coleman's family and others who knew Coleman, and arduous research Spevak finally put together what had occurred the night of the horrendous loss of his ship, the USS Vincennes, a cruiser sunk during the World War II Battle of Savo Island off Guadalcanal. Four big ships and more than 1,000 sailors were lost that night in a 22-minute battle, the worst open-sea defeat in the history of the United States Navy. Gripping, moving, highly personal, 22 Minutes is Coleman's story of the incident he had buried for more than 60 years. Did Ernie pursue sailing with such intensity, at a time when most men his age are sitting in front of the television, waiting for the end, so that he did not have to close his eyes and remember that night on the Vincennes? "I know why those kids come back from Afghanistan and shoot themselves," he said sadly one morning, sitting on the shady patio at his home. "You lay awake at night, reacting, reacting, reacting. Because it's so real." 22 Minutes has enormous potential to match some of the best-selling first-hand World War II memoirs published in recent years.
Ernie Coleman was 93 years old when, virtually every Monday morning through the summer of 2010, he sat down with a writer to tell the story of his nearly century-long life. A child of The Great Depression. A graduate of The Greatest Generation, as we call it now. A carpenter, Ernie has built things, and rebuilt his life repeatedly, struggling through divorce and the death of two wives. With four marriages came one adopted child and seven stepchildren. He has adapted to change. He is a survivor. Ernie is also a sailor, and one who loved to dance. On Lake Ontario, he was winning races well into his 90s. His boats weren't always the naturally swiftest. Ernie, however, knew all of the tricks that could ease his craft over the finish line first, especially on days when the wind was elusive. You'll learn that 33,000 years ago, the glacial ice over Ernie's house in Summerville was two miles deep. You'll learn some handy sailing strategies, like watching for the appearance of "cat's paws" on the lake surface. You'll read about heroin, the zoot suit riots, infidelity, love, death, how you can make a muffler out of a 5-inch artillery shell for a 1928 Dodge Victory Six. And you'll read that - if he's curious enough - a man can crawl through the hollow tubes of Hawaiian volcanoes left behind by receding lava flows. But most importantly, you'll learn the story that Ernie couldn't bring himself to tell, even some 70 years later. The 20-minute Battle of Savo Island, in the midst of the Guadalcanal Campaign, was the worst open-sea defeat in the history of the United States Navy. Three American cruisers were sent to Iron Bottom Sound that night, including Ernie's ship, USS Vincennes. In his nightmares, he can still hear his fellow sailors screaming in the burning water of the South Pacific. More than 1,000 American and Australian navy men, including more than 300 of Ernie's fellow crewmates on the Vincennes, were lost that night. Ernie's life experiences added up to the skills that helped enable him to survive that night.
Ernie Coleman survived the worst open-sea defeat in US Navy history. But he paid a price and buried the horrific memories for decades. In the manner of Mitch Albom’s highly successful Tuesdays with Morrie, 22 Minutes is a searing account of a survivor coming to terms with an incident he had suppressed for sixty years and the writer who painstakingly put together the clues about what had happened. Author Jeff Spevak was confronted with a dilemma: How do you tell the story of a man who can’t bring himself to talk about the most epic moment of his life? A clever fellow who’d scrapped to survive in a fashion that seems quaint today, Coleman tested himself as a teenager by swimming across lakes, building homes from foraged lumber, running a Navy carpentry shop as though he were a member of the scamming crew of McHale’s Navy. He was a self-taught sailor who’d become a legend on Lake Ontario. At age 96, Ernie was still sailing. Ernie Coleman talked of his life frankly – his honest remembrances of brawls and regrets. But he refused to talk about the one thing that had haunted him for decades: the sinking of his ship the Vincennes and his nightmares of men screaming in the burning sea, of incinerated corpses still manning the anti-aircraft guns. Through interviews with Coleman's family and others who knew Coleman, and arduous research Spevak finally put together what had occurred the night of the horrendous loss of his ship, the USS Vincennes, a cruiser sunk during the World War II Battle of Savo Island off Guadalcanal. Four big ships and more than 1,000 sailors were lost that night in a 22-minute battle, the worst open-sea defeat in the history of the United States Navy. Gripping, moving, highly personal, 22 Minutes is Coleman’s story of the incident he had buried for more than 60 years. Did Ernie pursue sailing with such intensity, at a time when most men his age are sitting in front of the television, waiting for the end, so that he did not have to close his eyes and remember that night on the Vincennes? “I know why those kids come back from Afghanistan and shoot themselves,” he said sadly one morning, sitting on the shady patio at his home. “You lay awake at night, reacting, reacting, reacting. Because it’s so real.” 22 Minutes has enormous potential to match some of the best-selling first-hand World War II memoirs published in recent years.
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