Ninety-seven year old Jim Baynham, who was a pilot on the Kassel Mission, recently moved into a new apartment. With the help of family members, he's been furnishing it. He emailed his family these thoughts on his new bookcase. The subject line was "Memories." Every bookcase should tell such a story.
"The bookcase in my living room is not quite complete. Yesterday we bought a 55 inch tv to sit on top. It will be delivered next Thursday. We also installed Wi-Fi yesterday. Meanwhile my keepsakes are displaying times that bring pleasure and sorrow and awe. Marie’s little porcelain tray her Mom brought from Sicily and copy of my book David brought over. He also brought the golf ball that was the one I sunk for a hole-in-one on the sixth hole at Sherrill Park.There’s a replica of the brick I have in the walk of the WWII Museum in New Orleans. Marie and Hector Scala also are remembered there with their own bricks. there’s a set of Jesse Stone movies Don donated. Jesse has been a favorite of mine a long time. I left my copy of Don’s iron sculpture behind on Pauley Place, so he gave me another. And John sculpture from styrofoam depicts a harried me with my travel bags. “The Worlds Greatest Traveler”, it says. There’s a small banner presented to me by a Luftwaffe Colonel when he invited me to become an honorary member of the German Military Pilots Associarion. And a little round glass paper weight from a trip to the Isle of Murana across the canal from Venice. Albums, creations by my kids, of my trip to Kassel and Stalag Luft One with my boys and for Joan’s eightieth birthday. There’s a pen and pencil made of wood in a matching cedar case presented to me by the Mayor of Enterhausen when he apologized for the criminals of his town who murdered Scala and Fields and Cowgill. And more hidden in various books and videos lined up on the lower shelves. A treasure trove. Love, Dad, Grandpa, Uncle, Jim"
Baynham, who became a prisoner of war, is one of the veterans whose story is included in "Up Above the Clouds to Die," my new book about the Kassel Mission of Sept. 27, 1944.