“Hours and hours of research is reflected in all the little details…foreign names, places and geography, and the intricacy of events that happened over 75 years ago. A great adventure for all ages to enjoy!” — J.M.
Bud’s Jacket
The 14-year-old casually reached for the book Treblinka, by Jean-Francois Steiner in the History stacks at the Hinsdale, Ill., public library. She paged through, glancing at the table of contents and random pages and was horrified by what she read. Why had no one told her about the German death camps? Why did she know so little about World War II?
Decades later, we open Barbara Wojcik’s own book, Bud’s Jacket, to the inspiring story of James “Uncle Bud” Wilschke. Shot down over coastal France in 1943, the American bombardier and his fellow airman, Robert Neil, find themselves on a desperate trek through Nazi-occupied Europe, hoping to survive and return to their UK squadron base.
Including extensive research and visits to the original sites, Bud’s Jacket is a tale of adventure, courage and determination. On a broader level, Wojcik pays tribute to the citizen “Helpers” at all levels of French society who risked life, liberty and property to harbor Allied evaders from what good people then and now consider the “forces of evil.”
- Dave Engel, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., City Historian, Publisher “River City Memoirs: Home Front” Author “Just Like Bob Zimmerman’s Blues: Dylan In Minnesota”