Leendert Smit is a Dutch amateur historian from Houten with a longstanding passion for local and wartime history. Over a period of fifteen years, he researched the February 22, 1944 crash of an American B-17 bomber near Wijk bij Duurstede and traced the wartime journeys of its ten crew members. His work brought him into contact with surviving airmen, their children, and other relatives in the United States, helping preserve a remarkable story of escape, resistance, captivity, and survival.