Vanishing Point author to tell story of Getaway Gertie
On September 26, The Parish Public Library will welcome journalist and author Tom Wilber to tell the story of Getaway Gertie, a B-24 Liberator bomber that disappeared over Oswego County on a winter’s night at the height of World War II. The bomber and crew of eight American airmen remain missing to this day. Getaway Gertie, an enduring part of the region’s history and lore, represents a much broader and largely forgotten casualty rate sustained on the World War II American home front.
The talk will begin at 6 p.m.
Wilber’s career spans more than 25 years as a reporter with Gannett’s USA Today newspaper network in upstate New York, and includes multiple teaching assignments at Binghamton University. He is author of two books, including Vanishing Point, published earlier this year by Three Hills, a branch of Cornell University Press. The narrative takes readers back to the Oswego County home front in 1944 while recounting the loss of Getaway Gertie, and examines efforts by various parties to find it in the years since.
Wilber first heard the story of Getaway Gertie at his family’s cottage on the shore of Lake Ontario. His late parents, Jim Wilber and Florence Leonard Wilber, were natives of Oswego County.