A Letter to Woody

The final chapter (Chapter 15) of The Shelburne Escape Line was written by Don Douglass and describes the experiences of his longtime friend and mentor Woody Blondfield, who served with the US Army Air Forces in WWII as a B-17 pilot. Woody’s plane was shot up twice during his 25 bombing missions over Nazi Germany but, in both cases, he was able to fly the crippled aircraft to emergency fields behind Allied lines in Belgium. In May 1945, a few days before V-E Day, Woody and his crew volunteered for a humanitarian mission to drop food supplies to starving citizens in Holland. One of the beneficiaries of this mission was John Slagboom, a Dutch friend of the Douglasses in Anacortes, who had been a teenager during the war. When Don and Réanne told Woody’s story to John Slagboom early last year, John realized that the plane that had dropped tons of K-Rations over his town had probably been Woody’s. John made contact with Woody by email and the two set a date to meet at Woody’s home in California. Tragically, on April 18, 2013, three days before their meeting, Woody died unexpectedly of a heart attack. John subsequently penned a letter, which was read at Woody’s memorial service:

April 18 2013

Good Morning Woody,

Today is the day we were going to meet each other, at 1000 hours. That was the plan. Well, Woody, the last time we met was in Holland on April 15, 1945. You were flying over our heads at treetop level in a B17—the biggest airplane—with open doors and unloading, on the fly, tons of food only a starving boy can imagine. That was the best bombing we had ever seen.

Our part of Holland was still occupied and there was nothing to eat. (I ate my neighbors' cat, but don't tell anybody.) You saved many lives that day—that winter was known as Hunger Winter. We found out that you volunteered for that mission. THANKS, WOODY. That food drop made you my Hero forever.

Can I tell you how you changed my life, Woody? During the German occupation (my age 12 to 17), our first school was taken over by the German troops. The second school was too close to the Allied bombing raids and was shut down. All that was fine with me (I didn't like schooling anyway). Families were torn apart and each on his own. After the war, my passion was flying. (That's where you came in.) 

I had no money, but I had a plan . . . Go to the USA. That was my plan. Sign up as a sailor in the Merchant Marine. And walk off the boat in America. Well, that boat went to South America instead, and I walked off in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But eleven years later, in 1958, I migrated to the USA. Woody, the story is more complex, but simply, you are my inspiration that helped make it happen.

So long, Woody. I will see you upstairs.

John Slagboom

John Slagboom

Press Release - The Shelburne Escape Line

PRESS RELEASE  2.17.14

THE SHELBURNE ESCAPE LINE

Anacortes author Réanne Hemingway-Douglass announces the release of her new book: The Shelburne Escape Line – Secret Rescues of Allied Aviators by the French Resistance, Britain’s Royal Navy and London’s MI-9.  A lifelong Francophile, Réanne tells the true story of the Shelburne Line, a secret escape route for Allied aviators stranded in WWII France, and the only line not infiltrated by the Gestapo. The book pays tribute to the audacity and heroism of the French Resistance members and Allied military and intelligence personnel who made the escapes possible. It also recounts the experiences of some of the numerous Allied airmen who were shot down over Occupied France. Réanne brings a personal touch to these histories, as many of the people she writes about are her friends.

Anacortes, Washington, March 1, 2014: Anacortes author Réanne Hemingway-Douglass announces the release of her new book: The Shelburne Escape Line – Secret Rescues of Allied Aviators by the French Resistance, Britain’s Royal Navy and London’s MI-9. A lifelong Francophile, Réanne tells the true story of the Shelburne Line, a secret escape route for Allied aviators stranded in WWII France, and the only line not infiltrated by the Gestapo.

As Réanne’s book recounts, the Shelburne was one of the later escape lines that operated within Nazi-occupied Europe. It was established at the end of 1943 by two agents who worked for MI-9, the British military intelligence agency responsible for providing assistance to Allied servicemen stranded behind enemy lines. Working with the French Resistance, these agents arranged for groups of Allied airmen to be taken from 'safe houses' in Paris to a small town in Brittany, where the men were hidden by local volunteers until a Royal Navy motor gunboat was able to pick them up from a secluded beach and take them back to England. A total of 121 Allied airmen and nine French agents were rescued from beneath the noses of German sentries on the cliffs above, in eight audacious evacuation operations conducted between January and August, 1944. Though the risk of betrayal remained ever present, the Shelburne Line was never infiltrated by the Gestapo.

The second part of the book comprises personal stories of airmen and other individuals who were loosely affiliated with the Shelburne Line or were otherwise caught up in the war in France. Some were American pilots whose bomber aircraft were damaged by flak or enemy fighters, obliging them to seek emergency landing fields or bail out with their crews over France. Two stories are about young French people, longtime friends of the author, who were unable to join the fight for their homeland but were marked for life—literally in one case—by the happenstance of being citizens of a country at war. These are intimate accounts that pay tribute to the heroism and courage of ‘ordinary’ people, while reinforcing the fact that war touches everybody.

The Shelburne Escape Line will be available through local bookstores, and online as an e-Book in Kindle, Kobo and other versions.

Praise for Réanne Hemingway-Douglass and The Shelburne Escape Line:

Even now, there still remain WWII stories most of us have not yet heard. The Shelburne Escape Line is one of the most poignant and includes Luftwaffe fighters attacking Allied bombers, air crews trapped behind enemy lines, secret agents and audacious midnight rescues. Finally revealed are extraordinary examples of ingenuity and quiet heroism on the part of ‘ordinary’ people.

- Maj. Gen. John D. Altenburg, Jr., US Army (Ret.)

Réanne Hemingway-Douglass has brought her impressive scholarly and translation abilities to an inspiring corner of World War II history. Her achievement is all the more remarkable because this aspect of the French Resistance was deliberately covert and secret. This book adds a thrilling chapter to the story of the fight for freedom.

-       Roderick Nash, Emiritus Professor of History, UC Santa Barbara

Réanne is a world-class sailor, author, explorer and Francophile. Her translations, scholarship, interviews of Allied aviators are exemplary. Do I smell a movie here?

-       Warren Miller, author, ski filmmaker, humorist and university lecturer

About the author:

Réanne Hemingway-Douglass is a French-speaking American who has considered France her "second country" since she spent a year in Grenoble as a college student in the 1950s. A writer, editor, cyclist, sailor, and language teacher, her articles on bicycling, cruising, and women's issues have appeared in numerous outdoor magazines. Her book Cape Horn: One Man’s Dream, One Woman’s Nightmare is a classic in nautical survival literature. She and her husband Don have also published numerous nautical guidebooks and maps covering areas from Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska. The Douglasses live on Fidalgo Island, in Washington State.