Living memories: Former WNY residents produce WWII documentary
Jay Skurski
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Source: TONAWANDA NEWS

Francis Seibert was away from home for the first time.

The year was 1942 and the United States was in the middle of World War II. The 20-year-old Seibert, a resident of Defiance, Ohio, was stationed in Amarillo, Texas, as an Air Force instructor. He was in charge of training men to become aircraft mechanics for B-17 and B-29 bombers.

As a way to pass the time, Seibert would write to his family. A lot.

Over the course of the war, he sent 613 letters to his parents, Genevieve and Francis.

More than 60 years later, those writings have become the origin of a documentary produced by members of Seibert’s family.

Seibert’s niece, Christine Bonn, a former Grand Island resident, and her husband Mark, a former North Tonawanda resident, produced the documentary “Letters to Defiance.” The 38-minute film shows Seibert reading some of his correspondence for the first time since the war.

The letters cover the time from when Seibert left home to the end of the war, mentioning historic events like D-Day and the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

“They describe the hopes, fears and desires of a kid away from home for the first time,” Christine Bonn said.

The film will make its world premiere at 2 p.m. Friday during the ReelHeart International Film Festival in Toronto.

Mark Bonn said part of the reason he documented Seibert’s recollections was the realization that many stories from World War II veterans are lost every day.

“It’s so important to hear these stories from these guys first-hand,” he said.
Seibert’s letters touched on a variety of different experiences — from the humorous times shared with fellow soldiers to his concerns about what the atomic bomb could do to the world.

“It’s hard for me not to cry every time I read his letters,” Christine Bonn said.
The film may never have happened if Seibert and his wife, Mary Ellen, hadn’t decided to move to a smaller home about five years ago. While cleaning out the attic, Mary Ellen came across her husband’s writings.

She then formed a new scrapbook — with each page shielded by an acid-free, UV-protected page liner.

The Seiberts will join the Bonns at the premiere.

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