Dear Mom, Dad, Beth, and Jim,

If you're reading this letter, I didn't make it. I'm sorry. I had hoped so much that I would be able to celebrate the war's end with all of you. If it is any comfort, I don't regret dying. I died fighting for what I believed in, that Hitler is the worst thing that happened to Germany and the world and stopping him is not merely a necessity but essential. Too many have died in some of the worst ways possible to think this war was anything but vital.

I don't go through a day without thinking of all of you and hoping you are safe. Please know I love all of you with every fiber of my being and that I consider myself lucky, yes, lucky to have done what I did. I lead the best men anyone could think of asking for, men who taught me news meanings for dedication, loyalty, and heart. Perhaps we were in a POW camp, but the men here outshone anything you would find at West Point or the Naval Academy. Not in military spit and shine but in sheer tenacity and devotion. I don't regret dying, as I told you, but I regret leaving them behind. They deserve the best that can be found. We worked so very well together, they became my family away from you. We share our lives, not just a barracks.

I hope, in the days and years to come, you will learn and understand just what we faced over there and what we tried to do, how all of us battled darkness as best we could. Please give my men all the affection and understanding you've always shown me. Know they'll never be able to explain all that we went through for in so many ways, you simply had to be there. Know I trusted each of them beyond measure and each one surpassed all I ever hoped for, as a soldier and as a friend.

Please don't grieve long. I'm there with you as long as any of you carries my memory. I hope you remember me with love and forgive my mistakes. I hope somehow I can show you that death is not the end, rather just an ending of one way and the start of another. And I hope we all will meet again somehow, someway, that I can explain all that happened and why. Until that day, know I'm around the corner, out of sight, forging a new path, as Kinch might say. I'll always be around, so live, enjoy yourselves, and think of me, once in a while.

James Kinchloe taught me more about courage and inner strength than anyone. He never complained and always tried to make my ideas reality, no matter how insane. Louis LeBeau showed me passion and patriotism in manners I never dreamed of and also of hope, of fighting when all seems lost. Andrew Carter is the epitome of good nature and of caring for the small things as well as laughter. And Peter Newkirk, well...

If the man I hope is carrying this letter is here, you'll know. Peter gave me everything he could and so much more. Of all my men, he was the one you'd expect the least from but the one who always was in my corner. I know he'll tell you he was to blame for my death, that somehow he should have been there. Don't believe him. He saved my life and sanity more than I could say and in return, I left him to face some things no one should ever have to face alone. On his back I placed more secrets and doubts and responsibilities than anyone else. I also gave him so little in return for shouldering that load. Yet he willingly tossed aside every doubt he had to join my madness and for that, I could never thank him or the others enough.

So what now? I didn't want you to worry that I died alone or painfully. I died serving my country and fighting a great evil and also in the love of devoted family and friends. There are far worse ways to die. Take my love and memories and build new ones. And know I've extended our family from Connecticut to France and beyond.

I love all of you so much. Until we meet again, know I'm there in everything you do.

Rob

Update June 1955

Group Captain Wellston survived his tenure as a Gestapo mole and returned to England. He is still active in MI-6 and often works with younger agents, particularly one special agent whom he leans on to be his sounding board. He has never married.

Wing Commander Turner retired from the RAF in 1953. He and his wife Gillian live in Nova Scotia but travel many places. They frequently return to Great Britain.

James Kinchloe retired from the military and settled back in Detroit, Michigan. He went to college and received an electrical engineering degree. He currently works for GM. He is married to a beautician, Angela, and they have two sons, Robert and Louis.

Louis LeBeau returned to a devastated France. While depressed over the loss of so many friends and family members, he did recover and currently runs a small restaurant with his wife Cosette. He has two children, a boy, Pierre Robert and a girl, Andrea Jamie.

Andrew Carter returned to Indiana but became restless. He travelled back to London to visit with Turner and Wellston and fell for a British woman. With his marriage to a British citizen and support from Wellston and Turner, he became a British citizen and joined MI-6. He is often assigned with Wellston, becoming one of Wellston's closest friends. He and his wife have one child, a daughter named Bobbi.

Peter Newkirk returned to London. He stayed there only two months, then travelled to the States. He visited Hogan's family, delivering Hogan's letter as promised, then visited Carter and Kinch, then headed to South America. He apprehended six wanted Nazi war criminals and rumors swirled that he killed others. He died in 1948, in a Buenos Aires hospital, from complications from pneumonia. His last words puzzled the staff as he clearly said "It's about time, Rob." Several medical staff reported the smell of roses.

His body was returned to England where Andrew and Mavis Carter had it buried with full honors. Turner, Wellston, Kinch, and LeBeau and their families all attended the service. A simple headstone reads "Peter Newkirk 1915-1948, heart and soul together at last." On the grave two rosebushes have been planted, one pink and one lavender.