Q&A with Barbara Wojcik

How and when did the project start? 

I date it to May 27, 2015, the first meeting of our neighborhood Birch Lake Ponders book club.  I can’t remember who chose The Nightingale, it wasn’t me.  Even while I read the novel I didn’t make the connection; it was only when the group discussion started that I experienced a mental jolt.  Suddenly I could hardly think of anything else - Wait, I think this happened to my uncle?? - as the discussion continued on to other topics. My buried interest in history was ignited.  I had been using Ancestry and working on genealogy for a while, but interest in my Crandell side of the family was dormant. There had been an estrangement between the Crandells and the Wilschkes. Our families lived less than 10 miles from each other in suburban Chicago for many years, but my mother, Lynn Cremin Crandell, and Dad’s sister, Rosemary Crandell Wilschke, held a deep dislike of each other so there was not much contact or natural connection.  I’ve always sensed that after my grandmother died in 1969, I had even less contact with my cousins. Of course my generation were all teenagers and young adults pursuing our own lives by then. After so many years of almost zero contact, the story fragment about Bud that my Dad had once mentioned was lost.  However, the idea that Uncle Bud had this remarkable experience pushed me to overcome my hesitancy and reach out to my cousin Jim in Illinois. I had his contact information and I just took a chance and sent an email asking him about his Dad’s WWII story. He welcomed me and has been a great supporter of the project.

Did you always have the goal of writing the book?

Oh no, not at all.  I was just curious about this family story and I had no idea what was coming for me, or how absorbed and preoccupied I would become.  I discovered about myself that I really like the research process, uncovering clues and fitting in pieces of a story, almost like a puzzle. One tantalizing clue usually leads to another. There were many interesting “rabbit holes” to explore.  The natural flow of the actual story, with dramatic arcs and incredible events occurring over 60 years - it was going to be a book or movie, or something!  As far back as 1983, I think I saw suggestions that this story would make a good movie. 

Having never written a book before, what inspired you to pursue such a massive project? 

At the beginning, I didn’t conceive it as a book or I wouldn’t have considered doing it. I hadn’t tackled anything like this before; my writing was strictly confined to work-related documents.  But then Cousin Jim gave me access to his dad’s large collection of photos, papers, and letters, and I began sifting through the artifacts. I was compelled to lay it out as a story, just so I could grasp the scope. I started a strictly chronological document to just get the facts laid out.  The realization that this was an incredible story waiting to be told grew very gradually.  I knew that this story needed to be preserved and written down, so it wasn’t just a box of mixed-up stuff that held such an incredible tale.

Keeping the story limited to Bud and Bob’s experience made it manageable.  I wanted to keep it tightly focused on the 2 young men, and not go off into the weeds of WWII history too much.  I wanted the book to be accessible to young readers, maybe teenagers who wouldn’t be much younger than the main characters, Bud and Bob at 23 and 21.  I didn’t pursue a highly annotated and indexed research work.  I didn’t have the time or skills for that, and it would really have made it a different kind of book altogether. I did my best to document and record the sources for event and person. 

Did you realize at the beginning of your research how much you would eventually uncover? 

No. And there is still much to be learned. 

What kept you motivated throughout the process? 

The human elements of the story were very compelling.  I used the internet to connect with the son and daughter of Bob Neil, who were extremely generous in sharing their dad’s WWII archive. What they shared was another treasure trove of information that dovetailed with Uncle Bud’s collection. 

I first learned about the stele (monument) to the crashed B17 through a member of the 305th Bomb Group Facebook Group; he sent me the link to the memorial page.   I knew that each man’s family should be made aware that their relative’s name is engraved on a monument in France, and that their heroism is remembered and honored by the French. I began posting photos and information about each airman on Find-a-Grave.com and Ancestry.com, hoping that if anyone did a name search they would find these postings. I eventually connected with the families of each airman, except the family of the pilot, Harry Indiere.

In general terms, can you describe how you began your research and how your research methods evolved over time? What roadblocks did you hit and how did you overcome them?

Having financial support and families willing to organize and share their relative’s information was crucial.  Without the generous support and encouragement of the Wilschke family, the project would have stalled.  It was an expensive endeavor, especially when the research leads take you across to Europe.

Stumbling would be the best way to describe my efforts in the beginning.  Just sifting through two large crates of Wilschke photo albums, newspaper clippings, and random documents got me started. The photo albums from Rosemary and Bud’s trip to France in 1983 held many clues, and Rosemary was very meticulous in recording on the back of each photo; (!) who, what, when and where, and why these people were important.  It unlocked so much of the story. 
Eventually it became clear that I would have to somehow connect with the players on the French side. First, I wrote to the mayor’s offices in Brec’h and Ploemel, Laille and Bedee, and the staff in those villages connected me to local researchers and historians who were very familiar with the crash and the principal helpers and main characters. 

The French connections opened up a whole new world of information and facts.  I learned that the US National Archives (NARA) held declassified files on French Helpers, and these files could be accessed by hiring a professional researcher to locate, scan and send the file contents to me.  The handwritten forms, letters and other documents not only verified names we already had (Diabat, Dreano, Carnac, Recipon, Jouan, etc.) but also listed names that hadn’t been mentioned before. Finally, the Wilschkes and Wojciks visited France in 2017 and were able to retrace the men’s step and visit many of the actual sites described in the book. 

There is much more of the story left to be discovered.  The research trail ran very cold once the men left central France.  We had two or three names to track down on the southeast coast in Perpignan and Rivesaltes, but I was unable to make any connections before we left on our trip. Names are left to learn about and other places in France are yet to be visited.  The language barrier was a significant hurdle.  And then time ran out.  I have a whole new respect for historians who are able to conduct research in a foreign country, These questions are left for the next curious person. 

The book is non-fiction but reads like an engaging story. What was it like to imagine the dialog between Bud and Bob, and how they made their way through the adventure? 

I left the dialog to our truly creative writing team, led by husband Jim and editor Dave Engel.  Their talent and perspective were essential in imagining how these young men might have interacted. The Wilschke and Neil families’ perspectives on the men’s personalities and manner was very important also.  Bud and Bob were young men who were raised in respectful, traditional Catholic communities.   We also looked up common slang and phrases and read a lot of books about the period to try and get the tone appropriate and believable. 

What did you like most about putting their experience into writing? What parts of that did you find most challenging?
I have always enjoyed writing. Trying to develop a book format gave me a whole new respect for professional authors! Maybe my naivete was a blessing in disguise.  If I had any idea of how hard professional writing would be I might be still at Chapter One.  As a first step I took a beginner writing class in 2016 at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, and it helped me understand the professional writing process, draft to final product. 

The idea that we were preserving an incredible true story was the most important aspect.  

Trying to reach back over the many decades and imagining how two young men could experience such events, and the emotions and fear was the most challenging.  How to communicate their day-to-day existence and fear? I hope we were able to do that.  I wish we had been able to talk to Bud and Bob in person. Many heroic stories are lost to time and I am grateful that I had a part in preserving this one. 

What did you learn from this experience? Not just the historical facts, but what have you garnered from going through the process? 

The local Breton community members know this story well, and they honor the American sacrifices at regular ceremonies and observances. It became increasingly important to connect with the Breton community to join the two perspectives. It was heartwarming to feel their gratitude to America and to learn stories of French citizens and Resistance fighters who joined the fight and cared for Bud and Bob.