The Murvaux affidavits

The 1919 affidavit was prepared by the mayor of Murvaux, who happens to be the uncle of the current mayor, Serge Colin.
The second affidavit of 1962 was prepared by Royal Frey, a fighter ace (WWII) who was stationed at the airbase at Etain. Frey spent his spare time surveying the sites of the American aerodromes in WWI France. His interpreter may nnot have had a complete knowledge of the idomatic French spoken in Alsace-Lorraine. It was not until 1848 that standard French was taught in all of the provinces of France. So, there was room for misunderstanding. Frey became a curator at Wright-Patterson: In the little memorial park there is a marble bench with his name on it. I went to W-P to check on Frey's papers, which were probably donated to the museum. But the person I talked to said that Frey's widow had his papers, but my interviewee would not give me her address, or write her to ask about their availability. To me it is strange taht in that vast air museum, there is not one reference or display abut Frank Luke, nnot even a display about the artifacts given over to the museum by John Luke, among which was his MOH. It is also strange that for all of the millions of documents W-P claims they have, the only one shown me was a copy of Frey's tour in the AAHS Journal (1970). This was the same treatment that forumite Janet Brady got when she went there. The point to prove was exactly where the building known as the 'maisonette' (little house) was located. This was where the wood chopping detail was strafed by American planes and only Germans killed. (Did they have people specific bullets?)
Now if there are any forumites in and about W-P who would like to try this research path, I'd appreciate it very much. Billy H 08/21/00.

[stephen]

Billy, we need to talk. I've been out of town for two weeks but I have very big news in this regard. As you know, I've been trying (with help from you and several others) to get the actual, original Royal Frey report/'62 affidavit for over a year now and last week we just scored a touchdown the likes of which I never expected. I don't have them in hand yet, but trust me - we have a big lead and its late in the fourth quarter. And no one else has seen this material in at least 20 years... probobly more like 30. Write me when you can. The news is all good... FINALLY.