05 Sep The Girl in the Blue Beret
The Girl in the Blue Beret, WWII Book by Bobbie Ann Mason
(2011) In January of 1944, Marshall Stone was the co-pilot of a B-17, the Dirty Lily, flying out of England on a bombing mission to Frankfurt. On its way back from the target, the bomber was shot up by a German fighter. Stone was somehow able to land the plane on a field in Nazi-occupied Belgium, but not every crew member survived. Some were captured by the Germans and sent to POW camps. Thanks to the help of the French underground, Stone was able to escape into neutral Spain.
When the story begins, it is many years later. Stone has just been forced to retire after a long career as an airline pilot. He returns to the B-17 crash site in Belgium and begins to retrace his steps. He wants to reconnect with the brave French citizens who helped him evade capture … in particular a young teenage girl who wore a blue beret.
This novel was inspired by true stories. Author Bobbie Ann Mason’s father-in-law was part of a B-17 crew flying with the 303rd Bomb Group, the Hell’s Angels out of Molesworth. The author also researched and interviewed members of the French Résistance and their families.
What I especially enjoyed about the book was that so much of it revolves around actual events that took place in France during the war, as in Sarah’s Key and Suite Française.
The Dirty Lily‘s mission to Frankfurt was on January 31, 1944. My Dad’s B-17, Liberty Lady, flew out of Thurleigh, only 15 miles from the field at Molesworth. Liberty Lady flew to Frankfurt eleven days later and thankfully returned.
I never warmed up to the main character. He only cared about one thing … being an airline pilot. That was his escape from his wife, his two children, his real world. He would just go off on a trip.
However in the saga were so many connections for me and so many similarities to the story of the Liberty Lady that I couldn’t put the book down and read it in one day!
The Girl in the Blue Beret: A Novel at amazon.com
Carol Sue Ravenel
Posted at 15:14h, 05 SeptemberThank you, Pat, for giving me credit for suggesting the book. Now I will be sure to read it myself! Glad you found some similarities with your dad’s experiences. I really want to sit down with you sometime soon and chat about all this. do call me.
Carol Sue