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CRASH Airwar Museum Program 25 February 2017

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Last Saturday, 25 February 2017, I gave my third WWII program on research and writing at the CRASH Airwar Museum near Amsterdam, Netherlands. We had a bit of a glitch as I brought my brand new laptop and didn’t realize it only had the HDMI port. The museum didn’t have that cord or connection to their beamer. Sometimes technology just doesn’t mesh. We made things work and I spoke for an hour on research and told many stories.

Stories have more impact than screen shots of documents.

Capture people with stories full of emotion and you cannot go wrong.

The room was almost filled and I met a lot of new people. I was also able to speak with some I met on previous engagements at the museum. CRASH is one of my favorite places to speak because the men who run the museum and programs are fantastic. It feels a bit like coming home when I am there. The museum collection is amazing too. If you have not visited the museum, I encourage you to do so.

Sebastiaan Vonk, founder of the Foundation United Adopters American War Graves (Stichting Verenigde Adoptanten Amerikaanse Oorlogsgraven,) attended to sell my book Faces of War to benefit the foundation’s programs.  I signed several books after the program ended and had the opportunity to speak with several people.

Friends old and new at the CRASH Museum.

Several friends attended the program and our plan was to have lunch afterward. I met a couple who adopted a grave at Margraten. This couple planned to meet me at the program because we had been talking already with the family member of the soldier. The stories they told me were incredible and moving. Not enough stories are told or written about what civilians went through during the war in Europe. Not enough stories are passed down so families can heal their wounds of war, which are invisible in many cases, but felt, through the generations.

As we walked out of the museum, two program attendees who I was not previously friends with on Facebook, stopped to ask questions. We invited them to join us for lunch. Our lunch became not just a gathering of old friends but new ones and many stories were shared across the table. It was FANTASTIC!

How does it get any better than doing what you love, teaching, healing souls, and making new friends at the same time? I look forward to visiting my friends and teaching at the CRASH museum in the future.

© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center

WWII Program Saturday at the CRASH ’40-’45 Museum

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International WWII historian, speaker, and author Jennifer Holik, will be presenting Stories of War at the CRASH Air War and Resistance Museum ’40-’45 on Saturday 25 February at 13.00. Her program will be a combination of WWII research and tips on writing the stories. Admission to the museum is € 3,50 per person and that includes the lecture.

During 1944 and 1945, thousands of men and women serving in the U.S. Army, Army Air Forces and Navy, fought to defeat Germany and liberate Europe. Their stories are those of life and death, hope, friendship, love, memories of those left behind, and dreams of the future.

Many questions surround the service history of these men and women. How does one conduct research from Europe? What records are available and how can they be accessed? How can individuals connect with families of the fallen, the sweethearts, or who shared their homes during the war? And finally, how can we preserve their stories? In this engaging and informative presentation, Jennifer shares:

  • A trip through time, exploring the service history of several Army and Army Air Forces personnel.
  • Resources to search prior to obtaining military records.
  • Information on obtaining Official Military Personnel File and the Individual Deceased Personnel File.
  • How to reconstruct service history.
  • Resources for the Prisoners, the Missing, and the Dead.
  • Tips on weaving military, genealogical, family, and historical records together to create a story.
  • A formula for writing a military story.
  • Writing prompts to get your writing flowing.

The Foundation United Adopters American War Graves (Stichting Verenigde Adoptanten Amerikaanse Oorlogsgraven)  will bring a limited number of my book, Faces of War: Researching Your Adopted Soldier, to the event and have a limited number books available that day for sale. The foundation will donate all proceeds to its The Faces of Margraten tribute at the Netherlands Cemetery.

Jennifer will have a limited number of copies of her writing book Stories from the World War II Battlefield Volume 3: Writing the Stories of War.

© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center

Genealogical Information in the WWII IDPF

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I’ve written before on the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) in both what documents they contain and how to access them. I have examples of these files under RESEARCH on this website. Today I’d like to talk about the genealogical information you can find within this file.

Many genealogists tend to avoid WWI or WWII research because they believe that all the records burned and nothing can be found (that is wrong). They also avoid it because it is too recent and not much is online. For those genealogists with family members who died in service or are still MIA, you are missing out on a lot of information by not doing this research.

Genealogical Information in IDPFs

  • Vital records information: birth and death dates and places. Sometimes marriage or divorce documents are also included. One file also contained a Marine’s Adoption records.
  • Health and dental history.
  • Photographs.
  • Vital records for family members. I have seen death certificates for parents and birth certificates for younger siblings.
  • Legal papers. I have seen FBI search results, mental hospital admittance paperwork, police reports, and probate documents in these files.
  • Change of Address forms. When the next of kin moved while a soldier was in service, they submitted change of address forms. This allows researchers to trace families after the 1940 census.
  • Family details. The IDPFs almost always contain handwritten letters from family members. Sometimes these letters talk about other siblings of the soldier who are in service.
  • Military details. The entire military service record is not included, but in cases where a soldier was MIA or still MIA, his training information is included in the documents.

Every file has similar documents but is also different. They range from 10-20 pages to over 375. That’s the largest file I’ve seen and it just arrived yesterday. To access these files, read the articles linked above about the IDPF.

Have you used the IDPF for your genealogical research? What information, secrets, and military history did you discover?

© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center

2nd Lt. David Baird Finch – Stories of War Submission

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This is a guest post written by Baird (Barry) Otis Barr-Finch. His father’s story was originally posted on AWON’s website and is reprinted here with his permission.

My Dad, David Baird Finch was born in Atkinson, Illinois, on June 5, 1912 to James Madison Finch and Kate Nichol Finch. His father was a Congregational Minister, farmer and sometimes county Judge, so that the family moved around a lot, mostly in Nebraska. Dad completed his high school years at Bellwood Nebraska, where he played basketball. He attended one year of high school at Caldwell, Idaho, where his parents retired. He attended Wayne College in Nebraska for a while. He was the youngest of eight children and spoiled by all with a lot of attention and affection. His two oldest brothers served in the Army during World War I. The oldest, Robert was killed in France in the Battle of Belleau Wood 6/6/18. He is buried at the American Cemetery, and the other brother, Durell, received permanent injuries from gas.

Dad was considered to be very charming and a strong bond existed with all the family. It is quite apparent from the letters they wrote about him and the few stories that have been told about him, that he was the kind of man they all admired greatly.

He played semi-pro baseball in the Midwest during the 1930’s and since work was hard to get, he worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps. He also worked with a surveying crew and the Bureau of Reclamations at Caldwell, Idaho.

In 1937, he joined the Idaho National Guard 116th Calvary Unit where is was a Sargent. When the war began, Being older and unmarried, the military had a huge need for officers. He was asked to resign from the National Guard and joined the regular Army.  He attended the Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Georgia. After graduating in 1942, he went to training camps at different locations around the country, one of which was Fort Lewis, Washington. His outfit served in the Aleutian Campaign after getting his commission.

While at Fort Lewis, he met my mother, Zelpha Galloway Hawkins, who was living in Seattle with her five-year-old son, Ed. As Dad said in a letter to his sisters, they “fell for each other pretty hard.” They were married in the Chapel at Fort Lawton, Seattle. Much of their remaining days together were carried on through the mail, and while some of those letters survived, most of them “disappeared.” Of course much of their correspondence was about me and my brother. Before I was born, all they could talk about was how excited they were about having a little “girl.” They didn’t even have a boy’s name picked out so they had to scramble to find one. Dad did get to be at the hospital at the time of my birth on March 27, 1944, but he was not allowed to hold me, even after he tried to bribe one of the nurses. He did write to his sister about how “proud” he was of his family.

Soon thereafter, he was sent to the Pacific where the invasion of the Philippines was being planned. After the initial landing on Leyete, Philippine Islands, on October 20, 1944, as part of General MacArthur’s invasion. On November 13, 1944 he was sent on a mission in the foot hills west of Guinarona to determine the location and strength of enemy positions. The patrol had to cover ground thick with tall grass and bamboo thickets. Approaching a high ridge, they were suddenly hit by deadly machine gun and mortar fire at close range. The enemy was strongly entrenched and well concealed by the thick brush. Realizing that he was greatly out numbered and his position extremely perilous, he started withdrawing his men to safety. To do this, he had to expose himself to enemy fire. Hit by sniper fire, he died almost instantly. The men he had so bravely given his life for brought him back to the American lines. His captain wrote that “David had won the admiration of officers and the respect and affection of his men by his sincerity, his courage, and cheerfulness.” Another comrade wrote that “his loss to the Co. was a great blow, as the men liked and admired him so much. He was well liked and thought of by his fellow officers too.” He was buried in a temporary grave on Leyete. Later his remains were taken to a central cemetery on Leyte and in 1947 his remains were taken to Manila where the decision was made to put his remains in the Manila American Cemetery there along with 17,200+ men.

My mother remarried in 1946 to another “Vet.” While I bonded with him as my “Dad”, and he adopted my brother and myself, I was allowed the freedom to get to know the memory of my fallen father. My step-father once told me many years later that my Father was the one true love of my mother’s life. I had a good relationship with most of my fathers siblings, who lived nearby. It took taken 55 years to come to a point of healing that I have today and realize how much I missed knowing a great man. I can now be so thankful for his life and all the blessings I have received because of him. He is my hero.

This is a short story of my father, who died in WWII. I am the author and sole owner of this narrative. I want to share his story so that his sacrifice will not be forgotten. This story appears on the AWON (American World War II Orphans Network) Father’s page. AWON is dedicated to preserving the memory of our fallen hero fathers. The sources of this story come from oral stories told by family members, from letters written by family members, military comrades, and from Military records.

Do you have questions about this story? Please contact Barry for more information.

Would you like to share your story here? Please read how you can do this.

© 2017 Baird (Barry) Otis Barr-Finch & World War II Research and Writing Center

Share Your Soldier’s Story

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The World War II Research and Writing Center receives a lot of messages and emails from people seeking information about a soldier. Some people really just want someone to hear the story they have to tell. Others need assistance in locating a record, identifying people in a photograph, or locating family members. Many have no idea where to begin their search in the U.S. or Europe. And a few have traveled to Europe to walk in their soldier’s footsteps, stood in historic places, or are preparing to travel.

Everyone has a story.

Last August I launched a program, Honoring World War II Service Together, to help bridge the gap between American and European genealogists and WWII researchers, to help educate researchers and preserve more stories of war before they are lost in time. Part of the mission of the work I do in the U.S. and Europe, is to help others tell their stories of war. Whether you are a family member, grave adopter, tour guide, researcher, genealogist, film maker, photographer, or anyone else interested in the stories of war, I invite you to tell your stories.

I am taking guest article submissions for the World War II Research and Writing Center’s website. To have your story considered for publication on the website, it must contain the following:

  • The story of the soldier, sailor, or Marine, you wish to share written in English.
    • No more than 1000 words.
  • Include one or two photos to accompany the story. You must have rights to these photos and provide a caption and source of the photo.
  • Tell our readers why are you interested in this soldier’s story. Are you a family member, grave adopter, re-enactor, other.? Please explain why sharing this story is important to you.
  • Provide details about his or her military service and life.
    • Please add a section at the end of the story telling our readers what sources you used to tell the story so our readers learn about other record sources. Everyone comes to a story through different avenues. (IDPF, OMPF, newspaper articles, family members, letters, Morning Reports, Mission Reports, War Diaries, photos, etc.)
  • If you are a grave adopter, were you able to connect with this soldier’s family? How did that experience help you and the family learn about the soldier, the war, and answer questions that may have been buried for years?
  • Important! What questions do you still have or what information are you seeking?
  • How can people contact you if they would like to learn more or share information with you?
    • Please include your email, website, or Facebook page if you have one so people can contact you directly.

Submissions can be emailed to info@wwiirwc.com with the subject STORIES OF WAR SUBMISSION – please put the story in the body of the email. Photos can be attached. If your story is selected to be posted, you will be notified.

© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center

Looking for an American Soldier in Dijon 1944/1945

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This is a guest post written by a woman in France looking for an American soldier. Please contact her directly via her email listed in this article.

Hello, I am looking for an American officer, who was in the tanks, in Dijon in the years 44 / January 45, he would have been killing towards the pocket of Colmar.

In January or February 45, his jeep would jump on a mine … I have no element on his battalion … apart from the two photos in uniform, would it be possible to finally put a name on my photos.

I am at your entire disposal if you have any questions for me.

I thank you in advance.

Email: Marie-antoinette Sainte-croix

© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center

Why Was I Chosen?

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Family.

History.

Brotherhood.

Honor.

Duty.

Stories.

Themes which bring us together.

I was thinking about stories and storytelling this afternoon when I pulled up speeches I wrote to give at WWII reunions the last couple of years. There were things I had forgotten I wrote and spoke of, and powerful questions we should be asking ourselves. I believe the WWII research or genealogy research we do, is more important than finding facts, or adding names, dates, and places, to our family tree. The reason we are drawn to military or genealogy research runs deeper. Not everyone realizes this, and not everyone stops to question, ‘Why?’

Why was I chosen to walk this path?

Why are we researching the dead?

Why do we feel compelled to research the dead?

Are we paying attention to their stories or just collecting names and facts?

Are we paying attention to the miracles and healing that show up because of our research?

On 16 July 2016, I had the honor of meeting and listening to World War II Marine, Hershel “Woody” Williams, say in a speech about his project on Gold Star Memorials, “Miracles happen every day. Miracles happen whether we are paying attention to them or not.”

Woody is the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the Battle of Iwo Jima.

He explained it is his dream to have at least one Gold Star Memorial in every state. A place where family members can grieve over their lost loved ones. There are many monuments and statues honoring veterans in our country, but nothing for the family members who sacrificed so much.

Woody continued and spoke about those left behind. Family members who lost someone in the war and the veterans who lost their buddies.

He asked an important question:

Why was I chosen to represent those who never got to come home?

I smiled when he asked that question, because I ask myself the same thing daily, as I research another WWII soldier who never made it home from war. They all have stories to tell and lessons to impart. It is a miracle to hear someone else question the same thing I do. To feel the same thing I do. Most people do not discuss this.

Every time I think I have answered that question for myself, someone else shows up to say, ‘You aren’t finished yet. The reasons you identified are not the only reasons. You must keep researching, writing, healing, and telling our stories. We are more connected than you realize.’

Have you ever asked yourself that question as you collect facts and photographs about the soldier you are researching?

Why were YOU chosen to represent those who never got to come home?

Jennifer overlooking the French landscape from Chateau-Thierry.

© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center

European WWII Travel – Let’s Go!

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2017 is well underway now and so much is happening at the World War II Research and Writing Center. Shifting things around to add some amazing new services later this year to make your experience of researching, writing, traveling, and preserving the stories of our WWII soldiers, sailors, and Marines, more incredible and healing. The majority of my education articles are only going out through my newsletter. One was sent this month. Have you signed up so you receive this valuable information?

As things shift here the last few weeks, I’ve felt a bit uninspired to write for the website. I realized last night, it is in part because of an influx of new WWII clients with which I have been busy. We have also reached the part of Chicago wintertime where we hardly see the sun. That is a bit depressing. Last night I pulled out my Germany travel book to see where I’d like to visit when I’m in Europe this year. If I could instantly zap myself somewhere, I’d transport myself either to a tropical beach where there is sun, or Europe to journey through battlefields, castles, cemeteries, churches, fortified villages, museums, and find more stories to tell along the way. Europe feels more fun than sitting in cold, dark, Chicago.

I love exploring new places in Europe, whether they are related to World War I or II, or not. It is good to have a balance of both war and peace. I enjoy climbing endless stairs to reach the top of a church steeple or tower to admire the view. I like exploring stairways between buildings or within castles, to see what is around the next bend. The architecture everywhere you look is incredible, whether old or more modern. Everywhere you go, you touch the past and the present, all full of history. Some places I feel a strong past life connection to, while other places just exist. No matter where I travel, there are traces of war going back centuries.

I love staying in historical places, old chateaus with the feeling of ghosts wandering the halls and stairways, places that have tiny nooks where you can sit and think or write, hotels that were once Headquarters for our US troops during the war, farmhouse B&B’s, and even more contemporary lodgings. Each has their own story and when you take the time to connect with the owner and hear those stories, they can change your perspective on your travels and your life.

My favorite times on each trip, are those when I feel fully connected to wherever I am and have time to sit and absorb it all. Time to write in my travel journal so I capture the memories, essence of a place, realize new things about myself, and dream new dreams. Time to take as many photos as I want, from as many different angles, to capture what is beautiful and feels good for me. For many reasons, there were not enough of those moments on my trips the last two years. This year I promise myself to have more moments like that.

Contemplating potential travel this year, I wonder where I should go and what I should see. So many possibilities!!!! Having visited parts of France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Austria, I plan to add England (London and Oxford) to my list this year. That much is certain.

I wonder in what places my soul will feel at home. What churches will bring peace. Who I will meet along my journey. What new things I will learn to share with others.

Thankfully the internet is full of websites for tourist destinations and the bookstore has a lot of travel books and magazines to browse. The travel books I already own are tabbed with bright colors indicating things on my wish list to see. Through all my personal and client research, there are many battlefields I wish to visit. Walk where the soldiers walked.

As winter moves on, are you also planning European travel to see and experience new things? Are you planning to walk where your soldier walked during the war? What places have you visited that touched your heart? Where does your heart and soul yearn to go next? What places do you wish you could visit again? What experiences do you wish to have again? Are there places you suggest I visit (if I haven’t already?) I’d love to hear about your trips. Please share with our readers in the comments.

© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center

 

I Hope You Write

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I am a writer.

I am a historian.

I am a healer.

I am many other things, which I captured in my numerous journals, pieces of blank paper, the back of military records, post it notes, and documents on my computer, especially over the last four years.

Some of us write because we are in transition in our lives and need help sorting our thoughts and feelings. We write for a place to dump problems. We write to keep track of all we are grateful for. We write ideas for future books. We write when our souls scream out, ‘it is time to heal all this negative stuff so you can be lighter and stand in your true power.’ We write in times of grief. Whatever the reason, many of us write and whether or not we ever show this side of ourselves to anyone else is up to us.

My life made a major transition in June 2012. Not only did I move out with my boys to get a divorce, but I was also on a new, uncharted path with my work. No longer was I only doing genealogy work for clients or teaching how to research. I was writing the stories of war and learning how to do that type of research, sometimes tripping down a path I could only see a few steps in front of me, trusting the universe would take care of me.

The universe DID take care of me. I followed the energy of my business and went where it said to go. I set yearly goals, thinking I wanted to accomplish x, y, and z, only to get to the end of the year to find I reached a handful of goals. Not only did I accomplish those seemingly few things, but I wrote out at least a page or two of things I never expected to learn, do, or create. By 2015 I made shorter goal lists and trusted I’d be where I needed to be with work and let the universe help carve the path I was walking.

My journals are stacked high now and contain happy and sad things, a lot of channeled writing, and many pages of discovery about who I really am, what I want, and where I’m going. My soul kept asking the question this year, when are you going to write YOUR story to share? My response was, ‘what do I really have to say about all that?’ My friend Ginny, who I wrote about in my book The Tiger’s Widow, has said numerous times the last few years, ‘I’m watching you grow, transform, and write your story which needs to be told, but I don’t know the end.’ Ginny and I spent time together for the first time, before my major transition in 2012. She has been a guiding light and inspiration.

Do you know the love story of Ginny and Robert Brouk, my Flying Tiger? Robert Brouk was fighting the Japanese prior to Pearl Harbor, with the American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers, in China during 1941-1942. Robert returned to Chicago in July 1942 and met Ginny a month later. Late November they married and went to Orlando, FL, where Robert was stationed and training pilots. On December 19, 1942, Ginny watched Robert die in a plane crash when the squadron was returning from Kissimmee to Orlando. She was a widow at 20 after three weeks of marriage. That was just the beginning of their story. You can read Robert’s story in Stories of the Lost and Ginny’s in The Tiger’s Widow.

Robert and Ginny’s story provided light in the darkness and hope when I thought no good future was in store. Tragedy and loss come to us to help us grow stronger and though it may take decades to understand why something happened, sometimes we get answers. With those answers come great healing for all involved. That was what happened for Ginny and I in 2012 and continues today. After Ginny lost her second husband just before we connected in 2005, she began hand writing her life’s story. She did this to heal and not fall into a depression from which she would never recover. We have that in common. We write to save ourselves and heal. She probably didn’t realize when she started writing that some of those pages would help a woman struggling through a major transition, or bring love and hope to the world.

Last night the words demanded I start writing to share my story. Will this story ever see the light of day? Will anyone beside me ever read it? Maybe not. Sometimes no one else needs to read it. The process of writing our story is often more important. It brings insight, growth, healing, and love. I have a feeling that whatever all this soul writing turns out to be, will somehow contribute to the world. I feel there are pieces that will see the light of day and be used in new projects. My pain, joy, struggle, healing, and love will somehow help someone else. We are all connected you know. We may endure our own darkness, struggles, and pain, but none of us is ever really alone.

There is a song called, I Hope You Dance, about a wish that we all dance and enjoy our life. My wish to you is I Hope You Write. Tell your stories even if you are the only one to read them in this life. When you do, your world will shift in amazing ways.

© 2016 World War II Research and Writing Center

War, Love, and Healing

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bob-in-uniform-holding-book
Robert Brouk

I’m often asked when I teach, why did I start researching and writing about World War II? My business began 6 1/2 years ago in genealogy. That was my dream and focus. About 20 years ago I started researching my family’s history and my uncle told me about a cousin, Robert Brouk, who was one of the original AVG Flying Tigers. At the time, that meant nothing to me because I didn’t know about the Flying Tigers or much about WWII. Then I started researching……..

Robert flew in the 3rd Squadron with the Flying Tigers and when they were disbanded in July 1942, he returned to Chicago. A month later he met Ginny Scharer and the two fell in love. Robert was ordered to report to Orlando, FL to train pilots in October 1942 and not wanting to be apart from Ginny, he proposed. The two were married late November 1942.

Three weeks later, Ginny watched Robert die in a plane crash in Orlando while training pilots. At 20 years old, she was a widow. No one in the family knew what happened to her after that. Robert’s parents and brother were dead and the story, it seemed, died too. My uncle, in 1996, was retiring from work and decided to investigate Robert’s life. He spent hours searching through old microfilm newspapers in Cicero and Berwyn, IL looking for stories on Robert. He came up with stacks of papers. Robert was Cicero’s Home Town Hero because he had fought the Japanese around the time of Pearl Harbor. His story and appearances in the Chicagoland area were written up in newspapers across Cook County, for months!

For my part, I started investigating the Flying Tigers. I contacted their reunion association and posted a message in 1996 on the Flying Tiger message boards. Nine years later in December 2005, Robert’s widow’s grandson saw my post. Ginny was still alive and had Robert’s AVG war diary, photos of his service, and some things he brought back from Asia.

Ginny and I exchanged many hand written letters and she sent me his war diary. She had also lost her second husband and had been hand writing giant volumes of her family’s history. To this written history she added photos, documents, newspaper clippings, and other items. She sent me copies of the pages that told the love story of her and Bob.

Ginny being inducted into the WAAC. Photo courtesy of Ginny Davis and used in “The Tiger’s Widow”

I sat on Robert’s war diary until 2010 when I started my business and decided, as a bucket list thing, I’d write a book. Robert died so soon after the Tigers were disbanded that he’s barely mentioned in any other books. His memory had to be preserved.

Once I wrote his story, all my other relatives who died in WWI and WWII showed up and said, ‘if you write his story you have to write ours.’ That began the start of my writing career and also my journey into the world of WWII research.

So what happened to Ginny after Robert’s death? A few months later, the minute she turned 21, she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, which later in 1943 became the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). She ended up overseas in Egypt where she met her second husband Harvey. What a story they have! Harvey had a brother, Fred, who was a co-pilot on a bomber that went down 2 November 1943 in Austria. He now rests in Lorraine Cemetery.

When I wrote Ginny’s story, The Tiger’s Widow, it was meant to be a biography. However, after my editor went through it and returned it, I let the book sit for several months while I finished writing Stories of the Lost. When I returned to Ginny’s book, it took me four days, a box of tissues, and allowing my heart and soul to crack open, heal, and pour love out into the book. I cried most of those four days I edited and rewrote her story. The book didn’t want to be a biography, but a love story, and Fred and I were to be added as characters.

You never know, when you start a new project, book, or genealogy search, exactly where it will lead. I have learned with each new WWII project I start, book I begin to research, program I write, or client I speak with about their family member’s service, there are always lessons to learn. There is often a tremendous amount of love for the soldier. And there are many unanswered questions that the research or project help to answer, which brings immense healing to the client, myself, and all those living or dead attached to what I’m working on.

We are all connected in this universe through love.

I’d like to share with you some of that connection with the first chapter of Ginny’s story.

Five Hearts Joined Together

Love knows no boundaries of time and space or life and death. It exists forever in our hearts as we remember and honor those who have gone before us. Through those memories we pass life lessons on to the next generation. We teach others there is light after darkness, hope after despair, and love is the glue that puts shattered hearts back together. This is a story of five hearts separated by time and space; hearts which would meet in the perfect moment. It is a story about never ending love that lived on even after death.

A famous pilot met a young beauty and the two fell in love, Robert and Ginny. Their love soared with the eagles. Their time together was brief but they lived so fully in love in the moment, it is as if nothing but death could have broken them apart. Then death knocked on their door and a plane fell from the sky in a fiery ball. One heart silenced on earth but lived forever in death. One heart shattered into a million pieces.

A year later on another continent, two brothers fought a war, Harvey and Fred. The boys grew up as orphans and wanted a heart to come home to. Fred flew a bombing mission over Austria and was lost, listed as missing for a year. Harvey feared the worst and waited for word which came a year after Fred went missing. A brother’s love lived on after death.

Less than a year after Fred went missing, Ginny found Harvey. A chance meeting and two hearts became one. Pieces of Ginny’s shattered heart started to glue back together, slowly at first and then more quickly. Harvey’s heart had finally found its home with Ginny. He was no longer an orphan or alone. They found each other during a time of war when the world around them collapsed in chaos. Together they created a new world filled with joy, love, and the memories of those lost before their time.

Almost 65 years later, another heart emerged. A young woman trying to start a new life after her heart was shattered. She and Ginny, now a widow for the second time, connected. Little did they know the impact that meeting would have.

Five hearts separated by time and space that met in perfect time, would change the lives of all they touched. Their love would span decades. Their life lessons would provide hope to others in the future.

Five hearts joined forever.

Have you worked on a project or written something that helped change or heal you or those involved? Our readers would love to hear your stories of War, Love, and Healing.

You can read Bob’s story in Stories of the Lost. You can read Ginny’s story in The Tiger’s Widow.

© 2016 World War II Research and Writing Center