Passing the Baton: The Norman "Joe" Hirsch Story
by William J. Hirsch
Category: Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)

Passing the Baton is a reminiscent family saga, peppered with ethnic accents, innocent kids' foibles and teenage adjustments. The saga of the World War II Allied air war is framed through a family filter. Norman F. Hirsch is central and America is the constant presence. The story journeys from the Russian Pale of Settlement to Brooklyn's airless tenements, via a steerage-class ocean voyage. Add exigencies caused by the '30s global depression, with the occasional relief of Hollywood flicks, Ebbets Field baseball and football, and disappointments with colts and fillies at the finish line. There's the convoluted Drukman-Luckman murder case, and pre-war citizens military training camp. Eventually we travel to East Anglia, England, and aerial bombing missions over Germany via B-24 Liberators of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force. We read Speer/Hitler letters and sense home-front rationing, the black market, casualties, victory and renewal.