Leaving out the best bits

Researching for a novel is always a joy, although it can be problematic. What to use, and what not to use? In Notes from the Lost, two captured soldiers, Alfie and Frank, escape from the train taking them to a WW2 POW camp in Germany. 
I based the story on the experience of my friend Martin’s father. Captain William Wright was sheltered by a very brave Italian family who lived in a mountain village near Avezzano. Eventually, he was recaptured, but in my story the young soliders have a very different fate. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happened to them. 
This different outcome meant that I couldn’t use one of the most touching things I found amongst William’s WW2 letters and journals. It was a letter written by the man who had sheltered him to William’s father in 1944. Clearly whilst in the German camp, William had written to his father about the Italian family and his father had then written to them. What we have to remember is that one day William left the Italian family to try and make his way to the Allied line. Whether he lived or died, they didn’t know. This is the reply, and it still brings tears to my eyes. 
Captain Wright did return to Italy after the war, and the photo of the family group was taken during that visit.