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20 - We Were There at the Normandy Invasion by Clayton Knight · We Were There at the Normandy Invasion

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Day nineteen forty four. That night lights glowed in the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Gangong house. In spite of the blessed cold wind and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: drifts of rain. The door stood open. Most of the evening.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Friends came, laughing, crying, chattering, greetings and news. Children came
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to ask Andra questions and stand with open mouths at
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: what he had to say. Marie brought cups of hot
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: chocolate and black bread. Madame Lescaux supplied some small cakes.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Leon Dupley rode over to tell Marie that General de Gaulle,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: who commanded the marquis from London, was now touring the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: liberated towns of Normandy. If French army will soon join
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the fight to flee our country, Leon whispered to Marie,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: zewel until France from the Mediterranean. But do not tell
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: anyone yet, I said so, and with that he was
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: on his motorbike and gone on the road. Outside. Traffic
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: was coming up from the beach, but in smaller convoys.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Zissia is getting very rough, someone reported. By midnight all
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the guests had gone and the whole family were in bed,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: really home at last. Andrea went out to the road
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: many times the next few days to look for friends
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: on the army. Trucks and jeeps rolling by, And the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: third day, a messenger from Saintsaveel, on his way to
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the supply dumps on the beach, stopped to talk. We
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: got the peninsula cut off now, he reported. The ninth
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Division and the seventy ninth and the fourth Division are
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: on their way to Cherbourg, going fast too. Captain Doby's
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: men were still fighting for the marshes and some hills
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: west and south of Sansaveel. He said the storm over
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the channel had built up to an alarming degree. Rain
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: and wind whipped the trees along the coast and drove
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the villagers indoors. Traffic past the house slowed almost to
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a stop. When Andrea asked the truck driver what was
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: happening on the beaches, The drivers said, blasted hurricane. The
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: sea is standing on end. No land in Barges, CA
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and get shore pretty bad because General Bradley's howl and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: for ammunition. Frenchmen coming to the village from the shore
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: said tons of supplies had been swept away and sunk.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: The storm raged for four days, and Andrea went sadly
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: about his duties, watching the road, now nearly empty of trucks.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Two days after the storm subsided, Andrea heard that General
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Eisenhower had furried across the channel to look over the destruction.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: He'll talk to them Armory engineers and get deliveries speeded
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: up or else, a soldier said. But the Americans were
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: driving hard to capture Cherbourg. They needed the port more
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: than ever since the storm had stopped supplies coming across
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the beaches. On June twenty eighth, Leon came and shouted
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: through the door, Andre, Marie Cherbourg has fallen. Normandy belongs
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to us again. Then, on d Day plus twenty nine,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: four weeks after the eighty second paratroopers had first drifted
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: down in the Gannon orchard, Slim clattered up in a jeep.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Andrea saw him from the hallway and raced out to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: grab his hand and pump it up and down as
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the soldiers did. He asked, well, Captain Topia, Sulgeant William
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: has he at the second to benlieve, did you win
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: your battle? What do you mean, mister Slim growled, did
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: we win our battle? The eighty second always wins his battles. Africa. Sicily, Normandy,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: you know that Andre took Slim into the house to
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: see the rest of the family. He translated Slim's American
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: as well as he could for his father and mother.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: This is my last air in this way, Slim told them,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I'm on my way to the Utah airstrip to fix
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the cabin's passage home. Before he left, he promised to
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: bring Weller and the captain to see them. On the
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: way to the plane. The storm had at last blown
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: itself out and traffic on the road was heavy again.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Now the Allies were getting ready to break through to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Paris to free the rest of France. The British and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Canadians were fighting hard round Cannes. The Germans would bringing
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: up more and more tanks, better in some ways than
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: British and American ones, and the battle was rough, But
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the invasion armies were moving toward the breakout into the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: farther parts of France. The spirit of liberty swept slowly
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: but excitedly across all Normandy. July fourteenth, Bastillde which was
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the symbol of French liberty, would soon be here, says HEO.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: We will celebrate Bastilie with good heart, said Monsieur Blanc
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to Father Duprey and Father Duprey, who was very practical,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: asked how I have sought about that. Monsieur Blanc answered,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I have a plan for our little village. Alone, we
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  Speaker 1: could not do justice sua such a great event as
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: is Liberazio. We will join was as Saint mail aggays
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: to celebrate. We are not without talent INSI isvilitch. He
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: looked mysterious and whispered his plans to the priest so
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: that no one could overhear. When they had finished their discussion,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Father Duprey said, your pen will also keeps their children out,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: as the fields, jaseias home and land mines have been
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: cried up. The following few days there was a great
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: hubbub in the loft of the Gangean Barn. Children's voices
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: rang out and music billowed over the rooftops. Early one morning,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Father Duprey summoned Andrea. Victor appeared with his cart and
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: with the priest. And Andrea jogged off, behaving mysteriously, to
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: talk to the mayor of sair mail Eggas Bastill Day Friday,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: July fourteenth, was the next day. By sunrise that morning,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: all the little villages near Sairmeil were alive with activity.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Mothers bustled the breakfast into their families, had packed up
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: lunch baskets. Older sisters swept the family's best clothes, all
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: nicely aired over the heads of the younger children. Then
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: mothers and big sisters pulled and twisted themselves into their
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: own gayest, normandy dresses. Fathers put on the dark suits
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: they had been married in, and all over the peninsula,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the French tricolor flags, which had been hidden away, flew
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: in great flapping bursts of triumph from every house. All
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: church bells that had survived the bombing began to ring.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Soon after the sun was up. In the Gangnon house,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Ahman was scurrying about her own silk dress, rustling as
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: excitedly as she was. Marie, too, wrestled in her new
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: pale yellow parachute gown. Old cars had been rolled out
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: of sheds where they had been hidden and somehow brought
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: to life. They began to ease into the busy military
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: traffic and headed for Semel. Carts, bright with flags and
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: flowers and loaded with chattering villagers, thronged the roads. Father
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Duprey and Monsieur Blanc had gone to Saint Mel still
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: earlier in a borrowed car. In good time, Victor, Madame
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Muscal and their daughter showed up the Gagnon d'Or with Lafume.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: The fat perseron whinnied when Andrea led the family out
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: to jam themselves into the cart. While La Fumee entered
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the outskirts of Sairmeel. The town was already aflame with
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a noisy celebration. Victor found a spot where La Fumee
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: could be hitched to a post, with a pail of
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: water beside her. In the heart of Saint mel Igles,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the square was a churning mass of people, but in
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a cleared space in the center of the green, officials
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and police were arranging things in an orderly way. There
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: was a flag draped table on a raised platform, and
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: rows of chairs for special personages stood in a square.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: At one side of the table, dignitaries were gathering. At
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: the other side, Monsieur Blanc and Sameel music master were
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: herding the children who were to sing into nat Rose.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Running to join the children, Andrea saw uniform French officers
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: in a group among the dignitaries. All eyes were upon them.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Farther back stood a company of about one hundred American soldiers.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Marie went to join Leon Jacquin and the other machis
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: who had been able to come. When the hour for
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: opening the ceremonies arrived, Father Duprey and two other priests
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: moved to the table for prayers of thanksgiving. Then the
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Mayor Sairme and the mayors of other villages made speeches.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: These over the music master blew as pitch pipe, and
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Monsieur Blanc raised his arm to give the beat for
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: the singing, high and clear. The children's voices sang out
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the beloved old songs of Triumphant France. Last song died away.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: The children settled down on the grass. Monsieur Blanc rose,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: we are now about to have the special pleasure, he announced.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Andrea Gaignon will express the feelings of comradeship we all
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: have for our Flenzy Americans. Andrea had been carefully carrying
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: his trumpet under his arm, his knee shaking. He stepped
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: forward and put the trumpet to his lips. He played
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: first a gay little Normandy tune. This was loudly applauded,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and he waited for the noise to die down. When
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: he again trilled out a trumpet call. Every Frenchman present
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: grew silent and listened with puzzled eyes. The tune was
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: one they didn't know. Suddenly, from the back of the crowd,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: men's voices began to sing the words. Andrea's heart gave
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a great leap, but he kept on playing. The voices
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: were growing louder, the men were moving toward the green.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Andrea swept into the chorus, and powerfully the American words,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: punctuated by clapping hands at the proper time, swelled out
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: over the crowd. A French voice took up the words,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: another and another, until the entire gathering was singing. Many
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: of the Americans stood beside Andre now and Slim, his
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: hard hands beating the clap clap of the chorus, sang
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the loudest deep and see Hall tulvs Tegsas sang the
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: French stars at night are big and bright. Deep in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the heart of Texas reminds me of the one I love.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Deep in the Heart of Texas, sang Slim and Dweller
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and Captain Dobe, dragging out the last long notes. At
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the thought of home, Andre dropped his trumpet to his
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: side as the babble of happy voices rose and became Bedlam.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Captain Doby shook hands with the French officers. Andre started
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: at the sight of a Royal Air Force uniform and
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: ran across the square. Standing beside Marie, Ronald Pitt was
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: laughing with the Marquise over the escapade of the strange nun.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Ronald grabbed Andrea's arms and swung him early around. How
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: did you get here, Ronald, Andrea asked, Well Ronald replied,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: I'm on my way to the British lines to chauffeur
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: generally round. Oh, Andrea giggled. I saw this celebration going
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: on down here, Ronald Pitt went on, and I wanted
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: to see what is happening in so Mel So I
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: landed in a field in Trotedova, and look what I found.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Slim and Weller joined them. Then then't we tell you
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: we'd come back, demanded Weller softly. A song began to
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: tremble from different points among the crowd. Andrea lifted his
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: trumpet and began to play, and, swelling mightily over the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: battered roofs of saw Meer, rolled out the song of Freedom.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: That is the voice of France, the Mossilles. Everyone sang,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: and many wept. After that, the gathering broke up and
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: lunch baskets were opened. Madame Guignan beckoned her in large
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: family party together under the shade of a wide chestnut tree.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Lunch was spread out between them. She and Madame Lascon
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: had brought food enough for all. Captain Doby and Andrea
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: sat side by side. He will return to visit us
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: after zi wal Andrea asked shyly, I certainly will, promised
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the Captain. I shall come back whenever I can. I
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: won't be comfortable unless I know what you're up to.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Andrea laughed, and he said, I shall go to America
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: some day. Tossie that you have got that lake mended.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Vive le Merkns, shouted Raoul, who had mysteriously become one
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: of the group. Vivea la French shouted, Weller Lafumee heard
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: them and put her muzzle down comfortably into the water pail.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter twenty. End of We Were There at
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the Normandy Invasion by Clayton Knight