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For Brian Duddy, his latest book project 
began with an encounter with a woman 
at the Geneseo Air Show in 2010. Jan Wiseley approached Duddy, a senior 
research administrator for RIT’s Sponsored Research Services and a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, with a copy of 
her father’s diary—graphically detailing his exploits as an aircraft mechanic 
for an air transport squadron during 
World War II. 


The result of that meeting is Invasion Stripes, a first-person account of U.S. 
Army Air Force Capt. Robert Uhrig as 
told directly from the pages of his diary 
and letters to his wife, Toots. The story 
follows Uhrig from jump school at 
Fort Benning to supplying British 
units in North Africa to the Sicilian and Normandy invasions, as well as other 
airborne operations in Europe. 


“I was amazed by the amount of 
detail that Robert kept in his diary every day,” Duddy says. “His diary is an original source of history—not merely a recollection—written in the moment and recorded as the events in his life during the war 
were actually happening.”


Duddy explains that this unique piece 
of history has broad appeal and compares 
it to how many Americans would feel about finding a first-person diary of a soldier who fought the Battle of Gettysburg. 


“This story is a true time capsule,” 
Duddy says. “Family members of those who served in Uhrig’s unit can get a clear picture of what their fathers and grand­fathers experienced.”


Invasion Stripes, Duddy’s second 
book following Wings Over LeRoy, 
can be purchased through lulu.com.