I am starting this blog to update visitors on what's going on in terms of projects and research on the airmen. This is what's happening right now:
I've been reaching out to Congressman Ed Case's office a few times each year, trying to get the Resolution reintroduced to acknowledge and commemmorate the Buchenwald airmen. So far I have gotten nowhere; the door that slammed shut in the 1990s appears to still be locked. I still have no idea why.
The accumulated files now stored on Dropbox are less useful than they could be, because they aren't well organized and don't follow the usual archival protocols. As time permits I am reorganizing all of the files so that they are in folders showing the Record Group (if from the US National Archives), the File Group and number (if from the Kew Archives in London), or similar details for materials from the Imperial War Museum, Cambridge Archives, French Archives, Bundesarchives, the Smithsonian, the Aarolsen Archives, the ITS, and other archival facilities.
In 2021, I started working on a Masters in Military History, which was awarded in October 2023. While in the program I was able to access many more relevant files and folders from the US and UK.
I'd be very happy to hear from anyone interested in helping to retrieve additional files or in prodding the US Congress to recognize the airmen. The only official US Congressional report on German concentration camps states emphatically that no US POWs were held in concentration camps.
Hi Ric,
Congratulations on your Master's degree.
Well done for developing the potential of the website and for providing the additional documents. I have some more background relating to my Father Sqn.Ldr Stanley Booker MBE. He is now 101 and still remembering all his 168 air force colleagues at Buchenwald.
I am still working on his memoirs. I am particularly interested in reaching out to share the experiences of the second and third generation, the children of the airmen who survived the horrors of Buchenwald.
Also chasing up a file from Kew about the interrogation of allied prisoners at Gestapo HQ at Avenue Foch.
Looking forward to reading your blog.
Best wishes,
Pat Vinycomb
🙂