Joe Moser-Buchenwald Flyboy

I was thrilled to receive this photo on March 26 from Remco Immerzeel in France. This is the Lascanne farm, near Marchefroy that Remco says is Joe Moser’s crash site. Remco is providing incredibly detailed information (and very surprising facts!) about Joe’s capture by the Germans, the French underground members who tried to help them and their surprising escapes. Read chapter 3.

An amazing thing just happened. Several weeks ago Joe gave me a letter (along with stacks of other materials) that he received from someone in France, Remco Immerzeel. It was sent Dec 9, 2006–recently. Mr. Immerzeel has been doing research on the Buchenwald Flyboys including Joe. The letter provided some tantalizing information including about the German soldier who was driving the motorcycle when Joe was captured. It turns out he was the same German who fired the two shots covering the escape of the Frenchmen held with Joe in the cellar. (Sorry, you’ll have to read about that in Chapter 3). Joe never responded to Mr Immerzeel. But today I wrote him an email since he included in his letter. I just heard from him with much more information. He knows so much that will be helpful in telling this story and, if we can go to France and Germany with Joe this summer as I hope, he will be very helpful in the documentary we hope to do.

One thing I am learning and quickly, the Internet is the historian’s best friend. Partly for how it help you gain access to information that would take far longer to reach or that you would never find, and partly because it is so easy to connect with others who share a very narrow interest, such as the experiences of some young men who went through hell for our freedoms over 60 years ago.

For those interested, you may want to look at the differences between drafts 1 & 2 of Chapter 2. To make the story compelling and a good read, a lot of “telling details” are needed. The details that create the feeling, smells, visuals, and sense of presence of the scene. But, those who know Joe will tell you that he isn’t a great story teller, far too quiet, unassuming, etc., so that getting those details out of him so that they are true and accurate can be a little tough and time consuming.

I drafted the first draft of Chapter 2 knowing that I was missing a bunch of what I needed. I was surprised, stunned, really to find out how much of what I guessed turned out to be right. Such as the direction of the woods that we was escaping too, etc. But, meeting with Joe last Wed night (March 21) I was able to correct a number of errors I made.

Another thing that changed the chapter a fair amount is that I looked up two documents that Joe gave me. These are really remarkable I think.  One is the letter from Francois Vermeulen written in 1945 to Art Kinnis which describes Joe’s capture by the German. This letter was never translated until 1988–a testament I think to the fact that the boys returning from war essentially wanted to and needed to get on with their lives and it wasn’t until 40 or so years later, as they approached their later years, that the experiences became truly precious to them and began to occupy their minds and attention. The letter changed Joe’s life because not only it gave details about his capture and the brave men who tried to help him, but also reassured him about the people in the house where his plane crashed.

The emotion of this, the power of dread and fear and sadness that he endured thinking about the fate of those French people and his role in what he thought was their death, became very clear as I talked to Joe on Wednesday.

But, there were also some considerable differences between Joe’s account of the aid he received from the French and what the letter says (a copy of the letter will be included in the book). Francois says that he gave Joe a shirt, cap and sweater to help him hide. Joe says he did not. This is pretty significant because if Joe was wearing French clothes when captured by the Germans the Geneva convention rules would not apply. He could be treated as a spy and summarily executed. Joe has always insisted, unlike every other Allied flyer in the group of 168 that were sent to Buchenwald, he was in uniform when captured. I believe him. In part because giving Joe a sweater in the 80 plus degree humid heat of that August noon wouldn’t make a lot of sense either. At any rate, it is one of those things I can see that historians need to deal with and the choices that need to be made that really determine what history is. It is not always so clear cut.

I just checked my traffic report and I see a lot more people reading this than I expected. And that will likely grow as I let more people, including Joe’s family, know about this blog.

I am putting up the drafts of the chapters of Joe’s book in this form because I want your help. This is the way I think books will be written in the future–even as some are done now. By way of conversation. The writer’s work will no longer be as lonely and quiet as it used to be. And the work will improve because of the comments of those who have the opportunity to participate very early in the process.

So, IF you stumble on this site and have enough interest to read even a little bit, a strongly urge you to comment. Let me know you saw it. Frank, Neil, Chris, Geoff, Gabe, Ash–all of you and the rest I don’t know. Don’t just come and look. Talk to me. I thank you and Joe thanks you.

This blog will be used to post information about Joe Moser. For information about Joe and why this is written, refer to the page “About Joe Moser.”