Ralph Patton - Escape & Evasion Society collection, 1943-2006.

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Ralph Patton - Escape & Evasion Society collection, 1943-2006.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/435654417

This collection contains two specific areas of information. The first are materials dealing with Anne Brusselmans and files pertaining to her resistance activities in World War II, which involved providing false identity papers, shelter, and escape for over 130 Allied airmen shot down behind enemy lines. Of significant importance is Ms. Brusselmans' hand written diary describing the men she was protecting and how they were moved through the escape route designated the COMETE line. The second part of the collection pertains to the Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society (AFEES) co-founded by Ralph K. Patton in 1964 after he had traveled to Europe and visited with some of the French resistance "helpers" that enabled him to escape after being shot down in Western France. Ralph Patton's materials consist of numerous books pertaining to escape and evasion during World War II, AFEES rosters which include members, evaders, friends, and helpers who were involved in the war again the Germans, as well as photographs and reunion details. Personal stories of those who escaped are also part of the collection and detail journeys through France, Belgium and the Netherlands en route to freedom. AFEES was officially founded to honor members of the French escape network known as Reseau Shelburn, to perpetuate the close bond that exists between airmen forced down and the resistance people who made evasion possible at great risk to themselves and their families. AFEES is still a very active organization, planning yearly reunions, and now staffed by the children of those who escaped and those who made those escapes possible.

36 linear feet

US Air Force Academy, McDermott Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7526650

US Air Force Academy, McDermott Library

Related Entities

There are 6 Entities related to this resource.

Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67x32c6 (corporateBody)

Order of Daedalians

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69h0ktk (corporateBody)

Patton, Ralph, 1920-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bk5nh8 (person)

Brusselmans, Anne, 1905-1993.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61g4wvf (person)

United States. Army Air Forces. Bombardment Group, 94th.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61w26gm (corporateBody)

Patton, Ralph, 1943-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66m7h7w (person)

2nd Lieutenant Ralph Patton was co-piloting a B-17 in January 1944, returning from a raid on the German airfield of Merignac near Bordeaux, when his already flak-damaged aircraft was shot down by fighters near Kermoroux. Seven of the ten-man crew evaded successfully, including Patton, and he and his surviving crew members wandered the French countryside for days until peasants helped connect them with the French resistance. They were provided with forged papers, safe houses, food an...