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Re: Normandy Invasion resources? C-47s

Sun Feb 17, 2013 11:36 pm

Well we officially are the owners now of this C47 as of last Thursday!

tried contacting a Barbara Frome Bloser on Facebook, but havent got a reply yet.

Re: Normandy Invasion resources? C-47s

Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:29 pm

Pathfinder wrote:There is a VERY outside chance that Capt. Frome may still be with us. I found a listing for the name in AZ age 95. A discrepancy in the listings indicated a person with middle initial 'D' as well as middle name 'Wilson' living at the same address.

More: Edward Wilson Frome is listed at the NWW2 Memorial as a pilot in 435 TCG....honored by his daughter. There is a listing for a person with her name and a likely age relatively near to the other AZ listing.....hmmmmmmm....but there are also about a dozen other names that fall within the age bracket that could be considered so she is not a conclusive contact.

Sorry for the long link...but check this out....apparently Frome's nickname was "Elmo"....not clear who the other crew in the photo are except that Frome is identified.

http://books.google.com/books?id=WysOCH ... 22&f=false

He is indeed ALIVE!

Just got off the phone with him, though he didn't seem too happy. I got his address though and he wants me to send him a letter to discuss the plane. I'm not sure if he thinks I was joking or what. But hopefully he will help us.

I am going to try and still get in contact with his daughter though.

Re: Normandy Invasion resources? C-47s

Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:43 pm

flightsimer wrote:He is indeed ALIVE!

Just got off the phone with him, though he didn't seem too happy. I got his address though and he wants me to send him a letter to discuss the plane. I'm not sure if he thinks I was joking or what. But hopefully he will help us.

I am going to try and still get in contact with his daughter though.


That is not an uncommon reaction in my experience. Sometimes folks just don't like people dropping in "out of the blue" to start prying into their past, no matter how noble the cause. I have sent letters beforehand, explaining who I am, what I am doing, why I am doing this and, if possible, a reference of someone they may know that could vouch for me. It seemed a bit less invasive than the phone. The down side is, you don't know if they will read your letter or just send it into the junk pile. When I do get a response, it is usually positive, though. I have received one negative reaction...the person had family health issues and aviation was the last thing on her mind and I should "go Google it". Sometimes trying to do the right thing and preserve first hand accounts of history can be a most thankless task.

Re: Normandy Invasion resources? C-47s

Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:14 pm

SaxMan wrote:
flightsimer wrote:He is indeed ALIVE!

Just got off the phone with him, though he didn't seem too happy. I got his address though and he wants me to send him a letter to discuss the plane. I'm not sure if he thinks I was joking or what. But hopefully he will help us.

I am going to try and still get in contact with his daughter though.


That is not an uncommon reaction in my experience. Sometimes folks just don't like people dropping in "out of the blue" to start prying into their past, no matter how noble the cause. I have sent letters beforehand, explaining who I am, what I am doing, why I am doing this and, if possible, a reference of someone they may know that could vouch for me. It seemed a bit less invasive than the phone. The down side is, you don't know if they will read your letter or just send it into the junk pile. When I do get a response, it is usually positive, though. I have received one negative reaction...the person had family health issues and aviation was the last thing on her mind and I should "go Google it". Sometimes trying to do the right thing and preserve first hand accounts of history can be a most thankless task.

Ya, I was sort of expecting it, but was hoping it wouldn't be the case. I know my own grandpa who served the PTO on board a minesweep never liked talking about it when he was still alive.

At first when I asked who I was speaking to he said you have the wrong number, which I knew I didnt because I had called earlier in the day but got his answering machine that had his name, but I was able to keep him on the phone and he asked why I was calling and I explained to him why. He said to send him a letter, but I didnt have his address and he gave it to me as soon as I said I didnt have it, so hopefully that is a sign he is actually interested and wants to help.

It took me 3 months of just trying to even find a phone number. I only got it through a loophole in one of the sites I clicked on that showed it as it was doing a secondary search. Though I was pretty close to getting a number for his daughter as well and still will as I feel she might be able to help us just as much.
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