Visit to Ridgewell and Halstead

Last weekend Geert Van den Bogaert, Louis Hatet and Sean Claxton took a trip over to Essex to visit the airfield and museum at Ridgewell and attend the UK premier of "In The Footsteps Of Bud Owens".

Louis and Geert beside the memorial to the 381st BG by the museum

Before the film showing, the opportunity was taken to have a ride around the perimeter of the airfield, stopping at the monument commemorating those who died in the accident on 23rd June 1944.

It was of course for his life-saving actions dutring this incident that Bud Owens was awarded the Soldier's Medal.

Geert, Louis and Sean on the remains of the old main runway

In the afternoon the documentary was shown in the Empire Theatre, Halstead. A huge thank you to the folks at Ridgewell and those who run the theatre for all their organisation and hospitality.

Andorra premier

This past 6th of May, the Velle Cases Foundation in La Massana, Andorra organized a luncheon and documentary screening of "Preserving A Legacy: In the Footsteps of Bud Owens" followed by a debate about the role of Andorra in WWII. 

Hostal Palanques, La Massana, Andorra which housed evaders during WWII

David Baro Riba, mayor of La Massana and Claude Benet, president of the Velles Cases Foundation

 

The event was a great success and we would like to thank Claude Benet and the people of La Massana for sharing the Bud Owens story! 

 

Luncheon organized by the Velles Cases Foundation. A full house...

Stay tuned for more on our upcoming UK premiere on the 24th of June!

Andorra premier

We are happy to anounce the Andorra premier of our documentary on Saturday 6 May 2017! We would like to sincerely thank Claude Benet and the people of La Massana, Andorra for making this happen. A short piece recently appeared on Andorran Television to help promote the event. Please click on the image below to view.

Premier...

Our premier in Pittsburgh was a great success. A fantastic moment for all involved, after 2 years of hard work, with a great reception from the audience. Thanks to all who attended and the many donors who helped make this project a reality. Stay tuned in 2017 for additional screenings as we will continue to raise support to help make a French version of the documentary.

 

Our narrator, Tim Lambert

 

Old friends and new came along 

 

Geert Van Den Bogaert introducing the film

 

Three of our star particpants, Louis Hatet, Hayley Hulbert and Luke Oman

More updates to follow soon.........

4 days to go...

In just a few days, on Sunday the 23rd of October, our documentary film will be premiered at Our Lady of The Sacred Heart High School Auditorium, 1504 Woodcrest Avenue, Coraopolis, PA.

Several of the particpants will be in attendance.

Admission is free. If you'd like to attend, please contact us at budowens381@gmail.com

Trailer

Things are heading towards a conclusion with our documentary project. The trailer for the film can be viewed on Youtube here:

Premier.....

After 9 intense months of post-production we are excited to anounce the premier of our documentary "Preserving A Legacy: In The Footsteps of Bud Owens" at 2PM on Sunday 23rd of October 2016 at the OLSH Auditorium, 1504 Woodcrest Avenue, Coraopolis, PA. Stay tuned for our trailer and hope to see you there!

73 years on....

This 4th of July marks the 73rd anniversary of the crash of B-17F 42-29928, 533rd BS, 381st BG at La Coulonche in Normandy, France. It is a day we remember the sacrifice of the three crew members who perished in the crash.
2nd Lt. George C. Williams (B)

 S/Sgt Albert G. Wackermann (BTG)

 S/Sgt. Harry A. Bauscher (RWG)

Athough he successfully bailed out and hid in occupied France for nearly 4 months, S/Sgt. Frances "Bud" Owens made that same ultimate sacrifice after dying of exposure and exhaustion in the Pyrenees Mountains on 25 October 1943. We are close to finalizing the powerful documentary that tells his story. Please consider making a donation using the "Donate" button on the right of the page to help us finish this great project. Thank you

Narrator...

We are happy to anounce that journalist Tim Lambert has accepted to be the narrator for our upcoming documentary in the Footsteps of Bud Owens. Thank you Tim!

A Pittsburgh area native like Bud Owens, Tim worked in radio for more than 23 years and currently serves as the multimedia news director at WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Over the course of his career, he has been honored with dozens of state, regional and national awards. He has also been recognized with four National Edward R. Murrow Awards.

Tim has an avid interest in the history of World War II and has been of great support to our project from the start. Please keep up your support as well and consider making a donation to help us finish this great documentary.

Yet more progress....

After collecting a large number of archive pictures and footage the documentary team is currently reviewing the close to 15 hours of footage from the filming we did last year in the footsteps of waist gunner SSgt. Francis "Bud" Owens. Important work in preparation for the final edit of the documentary.

Please keep up the support and donate! Thank you!

Progress....

The team is currently working hard, collecting a large number of archive pictures and footage to be used for the documentary. A chance to meet again with the Duval sisters Claudine (Bourban) and Yvette (Audigé) of La Coulonche, eye witnesses of Bud Owens' B-17 crash at Val de Vée on 4 July 1943.

We rigged up a basic set-up to take photos of photos in lieu of a scanner:

Amongst the photos we copied was this one of the Duval family from 1942:

Ridgewell

A big thank you to our friends at the Ridgewell 381st BG museum for honouring Sgt. Francis "Bud" Owens by creating a commemorative bomb plaque in his name. You do fantastic work!

 

8th AF News write up...

 2016 will be a very exciting year for our documentary project as we have officially started post production. We are thankful for all the support we have recieved in 2015 and hope the same in 2016! We start the year with a great article in the 8th AF Historical Society Newsletter. 

A big thank you to Jerry McLaughlin and Debra Hobson Kujawa for making this happen!

 

Transcriptions

A bit of a slow time in terms of updates but things are progressing well. The main job at the moment is the transcription of the various film segments to aid editing the final documentary.

For now, we'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year!

Interviews....

This past weekend director Jed Henry filmed several additional interviews in Pittsburgh, PA and BrightonMI with main protagonist Hayley Hulbert and her grandfather Jim Owens (Bud Owens' brother).

 

Amongst the momentos the family have of Bud, his dogtags.

 

 Jed also interviewed author Warren Carah (son of the co-pilot of Bud Owens' B-17) for our documentary "In The Footsteps of Bud Owens".

These interviews will add outstanding value and additional depth to the story. A big thank you to all involved for making this happen and we look forward to the next phase of our exciting project!

Normandy Guides

We have made tremendous progress in our fundraising efforts to bring the "In The Footsteps of Bud Owens" project to a successfull ending and will be able to start post production early next year. We would like to sincerely thank ALL our donors again with a special thank you to the Normandy WWII battlefield guide community which has offered such great support to the project from the start. 

Thank you:
- Andy Sutherland (Bayeux Shuttle)
- Paul Woodadge (D-Day Historian)
- Vanessa Letourneur (Normandy Panorama)
- Dale Booth (Dale Booth NormandyTours)
- Sylvain Kast (D-Day Experience Tours)
- Adrienne O'Donnoghue Sion (Normandy Onsite)
- René Van Oirschot (Bayeux Sightseeing Tours)
- Christophe Rault (Christophe Rault Private Tours)

 

 Andy Sutherland, CEO of Bayeux Shuttle at the memorial to Bud Owens and three of the crew members of his B-17 at La Coulonche. Thank you for your support Andy!!

 

 Paul Woodadge aka D-Day Historan with Waren Carah's book about the crash of Bud Owens' B-17 and his escape and evasion story. Thank you Paul!!

 

 Vanessa Letourneur, CEO of Normandy Panorama with documentary protagonist Louis Hatet, great grandson of resistant André Rougeyron. Thank you Vanessa!!

We still have some funds to raise so please don't hesitate to donate to this worthwile project.

Keith Murray

It is with great sadness that we were recently informed of the passing of Keith Murray on 28 September 2015 at the age of 96.

On September 6, 1943, 1/Lt. Keith Murray’s ship, the Bomboogie, went down returning from a raid on Stuttgart. He and four others of his crew successfully evaded capture assisted by the French.

Mr. Murray was the last survivor of the group of evaders, which included our documentary's main protagonist Bud Owens, that made the fateful Pyrenees crossing on 25 October 1943. He suffered several strokes over the years and his health unfortunatley made it impossible for him to be interviewed for the documentary. His recollections did however help us piece together the final moments of Bud Owens and two of his fellow evaders at Port d'Arinsal. Our sincerest sympathies to the Murray family and friends.

Interview

A lot of work going on behind the scenes to help promote our great documentary project. Bud Owens great niece Hayley Hulbert was recently interviewed on NPR member station WITF-FM' s talk show "Small Talk" hosted by Scott Lamar. Click here to listen to Hayley relating her experience following her uncle Bud's footsteps and her powerful conclusion at the end...You can help support this great documentary- please click on the 'donate' button to the right. Thank you!

"Yankee Lady"

Last weekend Geert attended the D-Day Ohio event in Conneaut, OH to help promote our documentary project. As a treat he got to see "Yankee Lady" in action. This B-17G has been painted in the markings of Bud Owens' 381st Bomber Group. She is one of only about a dozen B-17s still airworthy. Quite the scene! Photos courtesy of Ginny Swartz Shinew.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

A great article about the recent journey to film our group in the footsteps of Bud Owens for our documentary appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette yesterday. This has been a very successful first stage of the project but a lot more work still needs to be done. Please consider making a donation via Paypal to help us make it all happen. Thank you!

 Click here to read the article.