Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 10/21/24

Making “Eye Contact” with the past. In Eye Contact Over Truk, first-time novelist Stephanie Woodman (a retired chemical engineer and high school math teacher) spins an underwater adventure inspired by a true World War II event. There are two morals here – the timeless moral of her story and the inspirational reminder Stephanie’s personal journey offers that retirement need not be the end of one’s creativity contributions.

JWK: Tell me about yourself and what inspired you to write this book.

Stephanie Woodman: Writing is actually my third career. I grew up in Oklahoma and earned a degree in Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University. After 20 years as an engineer, I retired when I had my son. As he was going to school, I became a high school math teacher for several years. Through writing this book, I discovered a passion for writing. I’m now doing that full time and having so much fun.

The inspiration for the story came on a scuba diving trip back in 1996 to Truk Lagoon, now known as Chuuk. During World War II, this was a large Japanese Naval base that has commonly been called Japan’s Pearl Harbor. The similarities to the attack on Pearl Harbor are rather extraordinary. The result was around 50 sunken ships and a destroyed base. On the first dive, I swam through a torpedo hole into a gutted engine room. It was an eerie, surreal experience. My friends and I were staying on a liveaboard dive vessel with three Japanese, four Germans, and several people from Europe. One night, the captain of the ship played the newsreel video of the bombing. This had an extremely sobering effect on everyone. Then someone told me a tale, which I was unable to verify, about a retired US pilot who came back to dive on the ship he sank and died during the dive.

The entire trip haunted me for 24 years. I wrote my first draft in 2000, but it wasn’t ready, nor was I ready as the author. I put it away and had my own share of losses during the next 20 years. I finally retired and focused on writing this story.

JWK: Tell me about your characters and their differing perspectives regarding World War II.

SW: Assuming that the tale was correct, I kept asking myself why would a pilot come back to dive on the ship he sank. The only reason would be unresolved emotions from the war – and only a very good-hearted man could harbor those emotions for so long. That is how I wrote the main character, Nick, to be a strong, kind man who did what he had to do and tried to forget it.

To make the story complete, there had to be an opposite perspective. However, I did not want it to be the obvious military counterpart in battle. Instead, I thought about the Japanese culture and the role of the son’s perspective intrigued me – which resulted in Junichi’s character. That led me to researching childhood in Japan during the war which revealed so much history that I never knew about. This was a huge surprise to me. From that, I decided he had to have considerable unresolved anger.

Our day-to-day lives can help distract ourselves from our past. We can pretend it isn’t there, so that we don’t have to face the pain. I had to have both characters face a life altering loss which acts as a wrecking ball to their carefully constructed walls. From there, each must walk a journey that forces them to see the events through new eyes.

With the two characters on opposite sides of a war, and a generation apart, meeting decades later caused them to see each other not as soldiers, pilots, or enemies but as people: fathers, sons, husband, wives. In this light, we all love and we all cry.

As the story evolved, other minor characters came about to bring even more perspectives of the war. I already had the two combatants, so I brought in the innocent civilians caught in between. Additionally, I have a family member who lost someone to war but, because the body was never recovered, she never achieved true closure. I also included my character, with the questions that I dealt with during the trip. I am the only real person in the book.

JWK: What sort of research did you do in order to gain an understanding of those differing perspectives?

SW: Before I started the first draft, I began talking to veterans. I was able to find a World War II fighter pilot to talk with about the idea of the story and his own experiences. Bill was wonderfully supportive and informative. He had not been in the battle at Truk but was still extremely valuable in the perspectives of war, both during and after. Through the years, I went to air shows, listened to veterans talk, read books and, after the internet really got going, I was able to find all sorts of information and videos by veterans that clearly brought out the various perspectives and how they change with age.

Junichi’s perspective was both more complex, yet easier to write, because it was anger based on external events, exasperated by the fact that there wasn’t an individual that he could blame. Surprisingly, this ended up playing well in the story – so that he could focus his anger on Nick. Research for Junichi’s perspective rested on getting the history correct for his age progression. I was also able to find a Japanese-American who read through the story for me to correct cultural mistakes that I had made.

JWK: Next year marks the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. What are your thoughts on how American-Japanese relations have progressed since then?

SW: It is also the 80th anniversary of the fire bombings in Japan which caused twice as many deaths as the atomic bombs. I highlight the worst of the bombings in the book. This is part of Junichi’s story.

The relationship between our countries is very good. I worked with several Japanese and was able to go to Japan on business. I was treated very well both during the business and while out shopping. Because of all the horrific events during that war, I think that our countries have, in a strange way, a stronger tie based on a shared experience. Our occupation after their surrender was compassionate to the public. Food and aid were brought in for so many that were starving. This, coupled with the sheer relief that the war was over and a new life could begin, paved the way for mutual acceptance. Businesses grew and our economies were mutually beneficial.

My hope is that, as generations pass, the history of that insane period doesn’t get lost. That way, it won’t be repeated.

JWK: What do you hope readers take from your story?

SW: It is interesting that when I started writing the story that it was just an embellishment of the tale. When someone asked what was the theme, I didn’t have an answer. I remember one specific day that the words being typed on the screen, from my fingers on the keyboard, were words that I hadn’t thought of. The story just came –  and, without me planning it, the theme popped out. Forgiveness and letting go. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized that this story, that haunted me for so long, needed to be written at that time because I was writing what I needed to understand in my own life.

Each character had to forgive an event, a person, or themselves. This was the only way for them to let go and heal so that they would be free to live joyfully. Even though the background of this story is World War II, loss, grief, anger, and guilt are universal to every human. Those emotions never go away. They just fester and build to a level that leads to far worse events. I hope readers see a pathway to healing.

I also hope people see the parallels that exist between the insanity of World War II and now. Many millions of people blindly followed leaders that would not attempt to find a middle ground. This extremism led them down a path of destruction that ultimately cost the world well over 50 million deaths. Technology as it is, we cannot afford for history to repeat.

A last note, I have had several people, that I haven’t met, contact me and thank me. They’ve shared their stories to some extent and told me that my book helped them. This has elevated the experience of writing to a level that I never expected, but am so thankful for.

JWK: What’s next for you?

SW: I am currently very deep in my next book. This one is set fully in World War II and will follow two characters, an American nurse and a kamikaze pilot. The historical aspect is the bombing of a hospital ship, the USS Comfort, during the battle at Okinawa. This story, I already know, is about beliefs. I wasn’t sure I could write the kamikaze story but, because of my newsletter, I now have a pen pal in Japan who has generously pointed me to some invaluable resources. My goal is to publish this book by next summer.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share this story with you.

JWK: Thank you for sharing it with me. I think it has an important lesson for our own time. Good luck with it and I look forward to your next book.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.