Posted on 07/04/2003 7:32:47 AM PDT by Valin
PARIS - The July 4 holiday is taking on extra meaning this year for many French, offering a chance to repair frayed ties and honor U.S. sacrifices there.
Despite differences over the Iraq war, many citizen groups and tourism promoters hope to use the occasion to point out that France has long been - and will remain - a friend of the United States.
More than in years past, France wants to provide an ``extra welcome'' to American visitors this year, Paris tourism officials say. An array of festivities are planned.
From offering free champagne to cooking up barbecue meals, more than 100 Paris hotels, restaurants and other establishments will reach out to American guests Friday, the Paris tourist office said.
A grass-roots initiative led by about two dozen veterans, educational and French-American groups Thursday began placing 67,500 roses on memorials and tombs to honor U.S. soldiers who fought in France in the two world wars.
"Many people - Americans and French - needed this," said one organizer, Anne-Colombe de la Taille. "We've seen the U.S.-French relationship break down, so we wish to give a strong signal about the U.S.-French friendship that has existed for such a long time."
In an open letter titled ``The French have not forgotten,'' the groups pointed out that France was the first country to recognize an independent America, and said this year marks the 225th anniversary of a U.S.-French friendship treaty.
"It's like a family. There are conflicts, but in the end one remains a family. You stay together," said de la Taille, who once lived in the United States and whose daughter was born there.
Whether because of a weak U.S. dollar or lingering concerns about France's opposition to the U.S.-led war on Iraq, visits by Americans to Paris have plunged recently. Tourism was down nearly 25 percent in the first four months of the year compared to a year earlier, according to the capital's tourism office.
The help 227 years ago is indeed much appreciated, but what the hell have you done for me lately?
Well, close to 227 years.
A few public relations campaigns by some travel agents will not erase the memory of French perfidy, which in effect endangered American troops and encouraged our enemies to fight us to the death.
Aye, that's what I meant.
By Maria Papadopoulos, Enterprise special correspondent
MIDDLEBORO — Robert "Bob" Price was just 21 years old when he and his plane crew were shot down in France during a World War II bombing run.
It was only his second mission as a radioman on the B-17 Flying Fortress "Denny Boy."
Some 59 years later, the Middleboro resident will return to the small town of Feternes, France, where on July 16, 1944, French partisans helped rescue the entire nine-member crew from German capture.
"Some of those people I guess are still alive," he said Thursday, "so it'll be quite exciting to meet them again."
Price will travel to France in two weeks to participate in ceremonies to commemorate his crew's rescue. Expenses for the five-day trip were paid by local French villagers and officials, he said.
Price, 80, will be the only member of the crew present, as the other three surviving crew members will be unable to attend.
Back on that fateful day in 1944, he and his crew were on a bombing run, aiming for the BMW factory in Munich, Germany, he said.
His B-17 bomber had managed to drop its full load of bombs before encountering heavy enemy fire.
"One of my assignments was to throw out small bits of paper to attempt to confuse the enemy's radar system," he said.
Heavier enemy fire damaged both aircraft engines, and "we found ourselves out of formation and losing altitude," he said.
Price noticed the crew's right waist gunner had passed out when his oxygen tube became disconnected.
"I reconnected his tube and then we began dumping equipment to lighten the load," he said. He also blew up the radio set "to keep it out of the hands of the Germans."
The crew's pilot was able to set the plane down in a small meadow outside Feternes, near the Ville d'Evian, in southeast France.
"Miraculously, none of our nine crew members were injured," he said.
The crew immediately jumped out of the aircraft for fear it might catch on fire.
"Almost immediately, we were surrounded by six German soldiers" he said, who then rounded up the crew.
Within minutes and only a short distance from where they were captured, French partisans stopped the German truck at a curve in the road and a firefight ensued.
"We heard gunfire and then someone shouted 'Run'," Price said. "I jumped off the truck and ran into the woods where I laid low."
After the gunfire ended, Price said he heard someone yell for the crew to assemble on the road.
"I believe our six German captors were killed, but I never saw any bodies," he said.
Three Frenchmen guided the crew over the hills to a farmhouse where they were fed and rested. Price said an armed guard then escorted the crew's pilot and navigator back to the plane so that they could set it on fire to destroy its equipment.
"We could see a column of smoke rising from the plane," he said, "but we later learned that other villagers put the fire out," apparently to scavenge remaining ammunition and weapons.
The crew was taken to a French Maquis camp up in the mountains, and later left for Switzerland with an armed guard in a truck. The French had sent out an advance patrol that had to shoot its way through several checkpoints.
"The partisans told us they had killed 29 Germans in getting us through," Price said.
After crossing the Swiss border, the crew stayed at a small hotel in Montreux for six weeks with other Allied fliers who had either crash landed or parachuted into France.
During this time, Price said he interviewed many of these airmen, also fellow members of the 8th Air Force, to document their war stories.
He recently had these interviews typed up, and keeps the pages with his wartime memorabilia.
"You never thought you were going to die or anything," Price said of the war. "You went into the service, you were assigned your duties, and did your job."
Back home, Price's mother had received a telegram on July 28, 1944 from the Secretary of War stating he was reported missing-in-action.
It was over a month later that she learned he was alive.
Not knowing she had received that telegram, he sent her another telegram, which he still has, that simply said, "Safe and well in Switzerland. Don't worry. Love, Bob."
After several months in Switzerland, Price and three Allied airmen began to make their way home by hitchhiking through France after it was liberated.
At the southern port of Marseilles, they boarded a ship bound for Naples, Italy. From there, they caught a flight to an air base in Africa, and then another flight back to England.
"I saw a great part of the world," he said. "To a young man of 21, it was a thrill, it was enjoyable."
Price was transferred back to the states to the Air Transport Command where he ferried C-47s, B-24s, C-46s and B-17s to other bases until the war ended.
He met his wife of nearly 50 years Betty (Whitman), deceased since 1997, shortly after the war while working at a bank in Boston. Together they have five grown children and nine grandchildren.
Price retired from a career in banking as a vice president of State Street Bank and Trust in Boston in 1985.
Price said it was "quite an honor" to be invited and recognized by the French people. His companion, Marie Whitty of Middleboro, and two of his children will accompany him to France.
The commemoration ceremonies will include a major French air show, participation of the French Air Force, or Patrouille de France, and possibly the Swiss Air Force.
Other guests will include the French Minister of Defense, and the famed American pilots Col. Bud Andersen and Gen. Chuck Yeager.
There will also be a flyover by one of the last B-17-G bombers still flying.
Concerning recent strained relations between America and France over military action in Iraq, Price said he believes "it's more of a political brouhaha than anything. There's no animosity."
He said he wrote a letter to the American ambassador in France about the planned festivities, "telling him that I believe the average French person still thinks highly of the American people."
When he sees the French partisans who helped rescue the "Denny Boy" crew after so many years, he said only one thing will come to mind.
"Thank them for saving my life," he said. "There were people that protected us."
Posted for discussion and informational purposes only. Not for commercial use.
http://enterprise.southofboston.com/display/inn_news/News/news01.txt
How about "Les abrutis" (Fraunchy fraunch for pendejo). ;-)
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