Mary Thomas pens memoirs of James Moffat Broadcaster plumbs the depths of brother's war memories c / By Bill Hunt THE INTELLIGENCER The cloak and dagger exploits of a downed Canadian airman's six months of hiding in Nazi-occupied Europe have been captured in a recently published by book written by local radio journalist Mary Thomas. Thomas's first book, Behind Enemy Lines: A Memoir of James Moffat, is the story of Thomas's brother, R.C.A.F. airman James Mof- fat of 427 Squadron, who bailed out over occupied Belgium in 1944 and spent six months running from and sometimes fighting the Germans. The story begins after Mof fat's Halifax bomber collides with a Lan- caster after a raid on Nurnberg, Ger- many. Moffat was the only crew member of the two aircraft to sur- vive. Thomas interviewed Moffat for seven hours and contacted various former members of the French and Belgian underground to write the story. Originally intended as a book of her brother's survival, it grew into a story about not only Moffat, but the men and women who helped save him and other Allied airmen at great risk to themselves. "It's the story of my brother's six months on the run from the Ger- mans, but it's also the story... of the people who helped him. It's amaz- ing. They were just ordinary peo- ple," said Thomas. "To me it's not a military book, it's a book that real- ly shows the spirit of a people who'd been occupied...yet they never stopped fighting for their freedom." But as with most war stories, it recounts the exceptional feats per- formed by these ordinary people in unordinary perilous times. Moffat is helped by Belgian underground hero Albert Paul, his wife, Cecile, and other members of the Belgian and French resistance. He holed up in the woods with other rag tag members of the resistance and even accompanied them on members of the French Maquis on several raids, describing with candor the elation and shock he feels at fighting the enemy at close range. Thomas hopes the book server to t enlighten society's younger members about some of the Second Worl'd War's more momentous events, as well as recalling the lighter side of life that existed hand-in-hand with war. One such moment involves Mof- fat and and a fellow airman making a daylight sojourn from their hiding place in southern Belgium across the French border so they could do some fishing. Fishing licences were required in Belgium but not France. The book has 215 pages, plus appendix, and nearly 30 pho- tographs taken during and after the war, including reunions in the late 1980s with Moffat and his helpers It seUs for $19.95. Thomas is holding a book launch at the Belleville Public Library gallery Thursday, May 10 at 7 p.m. Moffat will be there to tell stories of his time behind enemy lines and Thomas will read from her book. The book can be ordered by e- mail at behindenemy@hotmail.com. It sells for $19.95 plus $2.50 per book for postage. fY\r>r i