A Project Completed

I just finished a project that has been on my “To Do” list for years, and boy howdy, does it feel good. Randy and I have had the blessing of going to France (where his dad was shot down during WWII) six different times. We’ve established some wonderful friendships and eaten the best French cuisine possible. We’ve taken all six of our children over to have this experience, always with the goal of putting all the pieces together so that we have a clear view of exactly what happened. It has not been easy, as we speak no French. They have made all the effort to learn English, and each time we go their English is better. But communication has not always been clear, and many times we have discovered that we had totally misunderstood them during an earlier visit. Now most of the principal players are gone, and we have to depend on their children and grandchildren for help. It has occurred to me that the day might come when there is no one left in that area with personal knowledge of the events, places and players of that historical family event. We want to have the information preserved so that our grandchildren and great grandchildren could have their own personal encounter with Grandpa Ted’s history.

And so, for years, I’ve been gathering pictures, information, maps and memorabilia. And I’ve finally pulled it all together. The hours and hours of video tapes have been converted to DVDs. The book contains a section for each player with pictures, their personal account of the part they played, addresses, any correspondence we’ve had with them, subsequent emails, etc.







I’ve researched information about the work of the French Resistance in that area and documented it with photos.

Ted’s story was written up in a book about the area – “Ted Peterson’s Grand Spree.” It’s has been translated into English and is included. On one of our trips the tides were perfect and we were able to go out into the bay and explore the wreckage of the plane. I’ve even included my journal accounts of our various trips.








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It’s such a good feeling to know that all of this information is now in one place and can be made available to anyone in the family who might be interested. It was a big job and I’m giving myself a pat on the back. Good job, Judy! Now if I could just figure out how to post pictures correctly. Yes, I realize that these pictures are out of sequence, but I can't seem to change it. I need a help session from one of my kids. Another project for another day!