the Comète Line

Apply to get creative Tauranga!

Tauranga residents with a great community arts and culture event in mind that needs some nancial support to realise their idea are encouraged to apply to the Creative Communities Scheme this month. Round 2 of the Creative Communities Fund is open from February 1-28.

e CCS fund aims to increase participation from the local community in the arts sector, support the diversity of local cultural traditions, and encourage and engage young people to participate in local arts – a broadly de ned term to mean all forms of creative and interpretative expression. ere’s no limit on how much to apply for, but most grants are $2000$4000+GST. See: www.tauranga.govt. nz/community/grants-and-funding burning Lancaster bomber and steering it away from the village of Chaintreux before crashing May 4, 1944.

“I’ve been there. I have stood at the foot of his grave. ey still celebrate Leslie’s courage and sel essness to this day,” says Brian.

Eventually the paths of Onderwater and Lissette would cross and they would collaborate on an updated, expanded English version of ‘Journey to the Horizon’, weaving pilot Lissette’s story into the story of the evaders.

Raw tale

It is a raw tale of fearless men who dared run for freedom, who cheated the enemy at every turn. ere’s no melodrama, no orid language, no overstatement. Deeds speak for themselves in ‘Journey to the Horizon’.

Like the airman who parachuted from a burning B-17 over Belgium and landed in a walled-in back garden of a house. A German soldier clambered over the wall to capture him. e airman then burst out the front door of the house, clambered onto the German’s motorbike and, cheered on by Belgians, took o down the street blowing his horn – a bit of wartime slapstick in a book of fear and pain, triumph and loss.

Unbelievable stories

And as one observer noted – if the stories weren’t real, you wouldn’t believe them. And of the resistance who ran the safe-houses, one escaper said: “Having experienced what these people so unsel shly did for me, I know the meaning of everlasting friendship. It explains the invisible thread that linked people who made contrails in the sky to those who kept an invisible trail on the ground”. Donald Kenyan Willis, the maverick American, served under four di erent ags – Finland, Norway, England and the USA. He joined the war before his country did.

“Nothing to do with idealism,” suggest the authors. “Willis would call you an idiot or a liar if you suggested it was.” e violinist came from Finland, which was at war with Russia. After a night’s binging with the ddler, Willis decided any country that could produce men who made music like his new friend “must be a helluva ne country” so he joined their air force. He fought with the Finns until Germany muscled in on the war. at’s where our authors catch up with Willis and follow him down the Comète Line on the ‘Journey to the Horizon’. And Comète, French for comet, a nod to the speed with which the resistance operated, the speed needed to whisk stranded airmen down through occupied France to safety.

Onderwater and Lissette tell us Willis listened to a man playing a violin in a Chicago nightclub and was entranced. “Beautiful,” he thought.

A WWII banquet

e book is a banquet of historical WW2 documents, facts and photos, a valuable research tool. And woven in is the real life story of the people of the Comète Line, the evaders and the resistance, who de ed, and eventually broke, a barbarous and evil regime. Peck and scratch and you will be well rewarded.

Brian has copies of the book. Contact him at: brian.lissette@kinect.co.nz or phone: 021 038 2568.

Hunter Wells

www.matagas.co.nz

Delight in an awesome 30-minute scenic experience and spectacular views over the Bay of Plenty. Learn about the history of our unique aircraft and take a very special trip with our dedicated crew. Taking off from Tauranga in association with Classic Flyers on Saturday the 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th of March 2023 .