The Navigator's Letter
Discover a journey of courage and adventure in every page.
Discover The Navigator's Letter
Author's Journey
Jan Cress Dondi's journey began in Hillsboro, IL, where the inspiration for The Navigator’s Letter took root. With thirty years experience in legal writing and research, she learned to trace facts with precision, following threads of the past—across time, language, and continents. Her pursuit was personal—a labor of love of family—a desir
Jan Cress Dondi's journey began in Hillsboro, IL, where the inspiration for The Navigator’s Letter took root. With thirty years experience in legal writing and research, she learned to trace facts with precision, following threads of the past—across time, language, and continents. Her pursuit was personal—a labor of love of family—a desire to connect historical truth with the human experience. The culmination of which has enriched this narrative with depth and authenticity.
Hundreds of letters from the two navigators—John B. and Bob, her uncle and father—and a POW diary became the backbone of this book. Clues led Dondi on an emotional search for answers, one that carried her across the globe—to her father’s POW camp in Romania, the Military archives in Germany, her uncle’s military base in England—where she pieced together a deeply human story of war, courage and love, one that had waited decades to be told.
Dondi lives in Fort Lauderdale, FL
The story...
One of the riskiest missions of World War II occurred on August 1, 1943—Operation Tidal Wave, the first-ever zero-altitude air raid. The Allies believed that the destruction of Hitler’s oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, would shorten the war. Using an untested strategy, it was worth the gamble. But the mission did not go as planned—with
One of the riskiest missions of World War II occurred on August 1, 1943—Operation Tidal Wave, the first-ever zero-altitude air raid. The Allies believed that the destruction of Hitler’s oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, would shorten the war. Using an untested strategy, it was worth the gamble. But the mission did not go as planned—with 53 aircraft and 532 crewmen lost, it was the costliest US air raid of the war. And the Allies vowed to return.
A true story, The Navigator’s Letter is a tale of uncanny coincidences: two friends, John B. and Bob, from the same Illinois town with ties to one woman, Polley; both young men became B-24 navigators; both were assigned to Europe; both of their planes were forced down over Ploesti; and both navigators went missing-in-action. But only one returned—during Operation Reunion, the largest evacuation by air in history repatriating 1,162 POWs from Romania back to American air bases in Italy.
Follow along as John B. and Bob defy the odds each time they climbed into a bomber. High above enemy territory, tethered to life-sustaining oxygen lines, they fought for survival against relentless dangers: freezing temperatures, flak, enemy fighter planes, fires onboard and friends shot down before their eyes—harrowing reminders of their own mortality.
At its heart, this is a story of hope and courage but also of the brutal reality of combat in the skies and the eerie twists of fate. Told through historical references, including the National Archives, and personal letters, the two navigators’ voices echo throughout the narrative—raw, real, and unforgettable.