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The history detectives investigate the diary of a WWII pilot; an 1856 book purported to be the memoirs of a New York woman married to a Mormon elder; and an 1853 Napoleon coin said to be shot by Annie Oakley.
WWII Diary - A man in Lexington, North Carolina, has a poignant
diary written by a World War II pilot. He inherited the diary 20
years ago from his father, who said it once belonged to a close
friend whom he fought alongside in WWII, until the war took his
friend's life in 1944. Keeping the last thoughts of this fallen
solider is now too great a burden for the contributor. Can HISTORY
DETECTIVES return it to a living relative? The stakes are raised as
the diary pages reveal the story of a young American pilot
stationed in England, racing against time and all odds to return
home before the birth of his first child. Host Wes Cowan heads to
Florida on a quest to reunite the diary with the pilot's surviving
family.
1856 Mormon Tale - The tattered pages of an anonymously authored
1856 book titled Female Life Among the Mormons claim to be
the personal memoirs of a New York woman who married a Mormon elder
at a time when polygamy was openly practiced but characterized by
some abolitionists as the "enslavement of white women." In it, the
author says she traveled with her husband as the Mormons were
chased out of New York and Illinois, eventually settling in the
Utah Territory. Throughout her journey, the author claims to have
witnessed a shocking, immoral culture of violence, polygamy, sexual
depravity and brainwashing. The contributor from Stanfordville, New
York, wants to know who wrote the book and if, in fact, it is a
true account Mormon life. The search to find the author takes
HISTORY DETECTIVES into a mystery that has haunted bibliographers
for nearly 150 years. Host Tukufu Zuberi sorts fact from fiction in
this fascinating tale.
Annie Oakley Coin - A contributor from Bath, Maine, has an 1853
French Napoleon coin with a bent, split edge and a great bit of
family lore: that the coin was shot by Annie Oakley and that Oakley
herself gave the coin to two of the contributor's
great-granduncles. It doesn't look like any of the souvenir coins
the Wild West Show icon typically handed out to her many fans. Can
HISTORY DETECTIVES prove that the sharp-shooting star of Buffalo
Bill's Wild West Show shot the coin for the two brothers - and turn
family lore into bona fide bragging rights? To find out, host Elyse
Luray travels to Cody, Wyoming, to conduct ballistics tests, scour
the Buffalo Bill Historical Center archives and even re-create one
of Oakley's sure shots.