January 2023
My grandfather (the taller man in the grey suit) wrote a memoir about his World War II experiences in eastern France. His name was Waller B. Booth, and my mother (on the far right) is his daughter. The memoir called Mission Marcel Proust: The Story of an Unusual OSS Undertaking recounts grandfather’s adventures behind German lines leading a group of US and French intelligence agents. The group parachuted in the middle of the night in September 1944 into a field outside the village of Confracourt. Once on the ground, he linked up with the local French resistance, called the maquis. Working with a battalion of Ukrainian soldiers who had recently switched from the German to French side, grandfather and the maquis defeated German assaults on woods where they were camped and liberated Confracourt. Though Confracourt was just a week during his two-month mission in France, memories of his time there and friends made stayed with him throughout his life. He took several trips back, including one in 1953 during which the photo was taken.
Grandfather believed he owed his life to a member of the local maquis Andre Bazeau, who was captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo in mid-September 1944. Bazeau refused to give up the details of grandfather’s secret mission, and for that he paid with his life. Here’s an excerpt from a newspaper article my grandfather wrote about Andre Bazeau in 1964.
All this information got me interested in researching my grandfather’s war-time service and in particular his role in helping Ukrainian soldiers escape forcible repatriation to the Soviet Union after the war. I made a trip to Confracourt in October 2022. Thanks to local historian Guy Mauvais, who filmed much of the trip, I was able to put together this 9-minute film of my trip.
Jeffrey Lilley Writing 