Linda Dewey took over from her late father William as President of the Kassel Mission Historical Society, a 501(c)3) organization dedicated to the men who fought in what became known as the Kassel Mission of September 27, 1944.
 
After providing a background on the World War II mission directed to Kassel, Germany, Linda introduced a documentary that covered two stories--  
  • the intense air battle that resulted in the greatest loss experienced by a single airfield in a day's battle in all of air history, and
  • the coming together of the opposing forces some 46 years later at a memorial built at the crash site of the lead 445th B-24 bomber at Ludwigsau, Germany.
As to the air battle, it was short but anything but sweet.  Of the 35 B-24's loaded with 9-13 men each, only four made it back safely to the base.  Of the 336 airmen from the 445th Bomb Group within those aircraft, approximately one-third were killed, one-third became POW's, and eventually one-third made it back to the base.  It was also bad for the Germans, who lost 29 planes and 32 pilots.
 
When it was created, one of the purposes of the Kassel Mission Historical Society was to fund and dedicate one or more memorials to the Kassel Mission.  With the cooperation of its counterpart in German, the Society created the German-American Airmen's Memorial.  Linda's video included footage from the dedication of the memorial on August 1, 1990, reflecting that the former enemies had indeed come together in more ways than one.