From a Ragged Crew to the Ragged Truth: How John Steinbeck Missed the Mark on an Italian-American War Story

In February1963, popular and widely-read True Magazine, (The No. 1 Men's Magazine) published Nobel prize winner John Steinbecks World War II story, "A Ragged Crew." That tale purported to relate a stunning World War II event on Ventotene Island, Italy which found a handful of Americans surprise and, through a ruse, compel a superior German garrison many times their number, to surrender. The esteemed author of such American literary classics as The Grapes of Wrath, Tortura Flats, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden, recounted the fascinating drama in which a small number of Americans caused over eighty-seven heavily armed Germans to capitulate. The Americans then liberated hundreds of Italian political prisoners on a nearby island. Utilizing literary flourishes and gritty portraits of combat troops, Steinbeck described the heroic action of dozens of paratroopers and of an anonymous lieutenant as worthy of praise.1 He depicted the drama that unfolded under the cover of darkness against a heavily armed foe as a fortuitous mix of luck and fortitude. Readers were left with the impression that this was a conventional, almost routine operation of American forces bereft of special training, thus conveying the notion that all rank and file American soldiers were capable of similar feats. There was no reference to the unique credentials of the main participants who were chosen for an extraordinary operation specifically because of their particular preparation and ethnic background. The problem with the Steinbeck account is not merely one of historical inaccuracies but of what he omitted.