Contact
Pat Allen DiGeorge
1710 Cassville Ave.
Vero Beach, FL 32966
My Dad was Herman F. Allen
My Mom, Hedvig Elizabeth Johnson Allen (“Hedy”)
I am the eldest of their five children, and when we were growing up the story of how our parents met and married during World War II was family folklore.
“Daddy’s plane Liberty Lady crash-landed in Sweden on the day of the first daylight bombing over Berlin. He went to work for the OSS (the ‘oh-so-secret-society’ and precursor to the CIA) where he met a beautiful secretary who worked there too. They fell in love and married in Stockholm…”
After our Mother died in 2007, I worked at their home, cleaning up and clearing out, and I brought home boxes filled with files, articles, letters, and photographs. I began to realize that we had to preserve our parents’ history and put it all together in a book.
In 2009, my son Johnny suggested I blog my research. At the time, I’m not sure I even understood what “blogging” meant. He designed this website, LibertyLadyBook.com, and I took off. Johnny was right. I have connected with people from all over the world, and they found me!
My goal has been that by writing this blog, others who are also interested in preserving wartime histories will find it and help me fill in the empty spaces.
Since I embarked on this journey our Dad passed away. At 94 years old, his memory of the war was gone. We had to find other people who were there and who might remember.
Find us on Facebook
Liberty Lady is where I post updates on the book and new findings about the adventures of the Liberty Lady crew.
American Internees in WWII Sweden is a Facebook group of more than 200 members who have contributed stories and photographs. There are historians from the United States, Sweden, Britain and more who are extremely helpful.
Another busy Facebook group is 306th Bomb Group – First over Germany. If you are interested in learning more about the 306th Bombardment Group at Thurleigh Airfield in England, join over 1500 family members and historians share their research, photographs and memories.