RESEARCH IN FRANCE: Dr. Eric Groce Reports

Last week, Eric Groce flew to France. (Some people get the best gigs!) Here he is with his "two French Grandmothers". Marthe and Odette are characters in Eric's work-in-progress - historical fiction about French villagers who assisted members of the 82nd Airborne after the D-Day invasion. Marthe (standing) the main character, was 12 years-old at the time.

This is Eric's 7th trip to France. This time he's working on a new WWII story about children of the resistance. I asked him to give us a brief update:

#1 unexpected challenge----I got to Memorial de Caen---a large museum and library to do research and make digital images from the archives and the librarian informed me the archives were closed until March! (sad face)…so I began to find historic spots around the city related to my person of interest and log them in my GPS and make notes about them. Not what I had planned, but the best I could do under the circumstances.

#2 new person ---The next day I interviewed a gentleman named Monsieur Andre Heintz. He was a teacher at the Ecole St. Joseph in Caen during the war years and was heavily involved in the Resistance. He is 90 years old and as fit as a fiddle! Truly a remarkable gentleman.

#3 Anything else? --- Even though the weather in this part of France is almost always cold, windy, and wet, the welcome I always receive from my friends in Normandy always warms my heart---not to mention the fantastic food.

Hmmm - French food? Eric seriously gets my Lil' Green Research Award. (It's all about professional jealousy!) Thank you Eric for sharing! I suppose the closed museum means you'll be going back in March?And to my dear readers, you can have a free 20 minute DVD reenactment of Marthe and Odette's heartwarming story - IF you enter and win the contest. See sidebar!

Please sign up today - and if you win - do share it with a classroom or library near you. A loan is fine. You don't have to give it away.

Here's a sneak preview!

Papa said, "We should never forget." from David Druckenmiller on Vimeo.