Memorable Moment: Extraordinary Serendipity

One positive about learning more and more and more about the world is that pieces begin to fall into place. 

When I was quite young, I watched a movie about the assassination of somebody in Germany during WWII.

My family was visiting my grandparents in Pasadena at the time. For years, I have carried around a vivid memory of sitting in the house's TV room with some of my brothers, watching the last scene of the movie where the agents commit suicide in a church that is slowly filling up with water. 

My grandfather may or may not have been present.

For years, I assumed (1) the movie was about one of the failed assassination attempts on Hitler; (2) it was pure fiction based around a failed assassination attempt on Hitler.

Neither--while reading The Bedbug by Peter Day, I came across several pages dealing with various Czech operations. To my astonishment, I found myself reading a passage that detailed the true story of Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik, Czech agents who successfully assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, then committed suicide in a church rather than be taken.  

Based on the brief clip I watched on YouTube, the version I saw in my grandparents' house was Operation Daybreak. It was released to theaters in 1975 and then, as far as I can tell, to television in 1976.

My grandfather died in 1977. I likely saw the movie the summer I turned 6 but I may have been older, about 8. 

Remarkable to finally know the story behind that memory.