3 June 2017

Meeting with Mary Shier

daughter of 2^nd Lt. William H. Spinning

Aumale (Seine-Maritime)

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     At the invitation of Mary Shier and Beverly Patton-Wand, Vice President of AFEES (Air Force Escape & Evasion Society), we had the pleasure of meeting Mary Shier, daughter of 2^nd Lt. William H. Spinning. Coming from Michigan and visiting the Aumale area for the third time, Mary Shier was once again seeking witnesses to the crash and her father's rescue. Boeing B-17 #42-29863 "Kentucky Babe," 351^st Bomb Group, was shot down on 11 February 1944, in the Aumale area, while returning from a bombing mission over Frankfurt, Germany. The crew consisted of eleven airmen. During this raid, a photographer joined the usual 10 crew members. 2^nd Lt. Spinning, serving as a bombardier on board, was one of the six airmen who managed to escape. Four were taken prisoner and one was killed in action. 2^nd Lt. William Spinning benefited from the Shelburn escape network and returned to England, via Paris and Brittany, on the night of 16/17 March 1944, during Operation Bonaparte III.

2^nd Lt. William H. Spinning

     Thanks to the assistance of the Museum of Resistance and Deportation in Forges-les-Eaux, Beverly Patton-Wand, and Mr. and Mrs. Thuillier, two passionate researchers living in Aumale, Mary Shier was able to retrace her father's escape over the course of two days, starting from the exact site of the crash. It was with great emotion that she was able to walk in his footsteps where, 73 years earlier, he had landed and been rescued in this little corner of Normandy.

Mary Shier

     For our part, we accompanied Mary Shier on the second day of her journey through the Seine-Maritime, Somme, and Oise departments. During the 11-kilometer walk through fields, woods, and valleys, every place mentioned in her father's writings was clearly located and identified, to Mary Shier's great delight, such as a small chapel, various isolated farms, or steep little paths.

     In a very convivial atmosphere, this beautiful day ended in a restaurant in Aumale where memories were shared by the few witnesses to the crash and the descendants of the various local families who participated in the rescue of 2^nd Lt. Spinning.

     A few days later, Mary Shier, accompanied by the Thuillier couple and Beverly Patton-Wand, continued her pilgrimage by traveling to Plouha, Brittany, where her father had stowed away to England.