The Patricia Crane Story
WAC T/5 Patricia Crane was featured in the 2011 exhibition “Secret Heroes” at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, MI.
Her daughter, Rebecca (Becky) Liell Hostetter was present and searching for more information about her mother. The following recently came to light.
Courtesy of: Hoosier History Live
Becky Hostetter, a vegetarian chef and co-owner of Duos Indy, whose genetic testing connected her to a long-lost half sibling. As Becky had known for years, her mother had gotten pregnant while serving in the Women’s Army Corps during WWII at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, and had given the baby up for adoption.
In the 1970s Becky and her mother attempted to find the adopted sibling, but to no avail. What little information they had about the person could be summed up on a 3×5 index card: Female, weighed less than 6 lbs. at birth, reddish hair and born May 30, 1946, in a military hospital in New Hempstead, New York.
Becky’s 2015 DNA test eventually led to locating this long-lost sister and a joyful reunion (including Becky’s three other sisters) in 2017.
For more information, and a video of their first meeting, see: Newsday coverage of the reunion.