D-DAY 70TH ANNIVERSARY 2014 people ❙ pleasure ❙ places

TOUCHING THE HEART OF D-DAY DIANE COVINGTON-CARTER RELATES HER FATHER’S UNIQUE EXPERIENCE OF NORMANDY IN 1944

The ‘Dog Green’ sector of ‘Omaha Beach’, landed by American forces on June 6 1944

ad was an offi cer in the Sea Bees, the Civil Engineer Corps of the DIANE COVINGTON-CARTER’S United States Navy, and I grew up hearing stories about his time award-winning writing and in during the Normandy Invasion. The Sea Bees’ motto photography has appeared was: “we build, we fi ght” and their mascot, an exuberant looking in Reader’s Digest and More bee, carried a drill and a gun. My Father spent over four months magazines, among other on the Normandy coast, fi rst building the Navy camp on the cliff publications, and on National above Omaha Beach, then rebuilding bridges and carrying out a number of other Public Radio. D reconstruction projects in the surrounding areas. Her memoir, Reunion, Finding Gilbert, will be available mid-2014. He liked to tell stories about his interactions with the French people during his time in Normandy. He’d studied French in a country high school in South Dakota, www.dianecovington.com. where the teacher had never even heard French and stayed one chapter ahead of her students. So Dad’s accent made ‘s’il vous plaît’ sound like ‘silver plate’.

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Dad would hold up his sugar packet to a friendly Frenchman and ask, The excited recipients would respond in a torrent of French, which Dad ‘Soocray n’est pas?’ The Frenchman, at fi rst bewildered, would then nod couldn’t understand. But he understood their gratitude. The next night, and beam, ‘Ah oui, sucre’. Then Dad would point to his butter and say Dad repeated the same ritual, at a different farmhouse. ‘booray’, again meeting incomprehension, then a relieved ‘Ah oui, le These stories were as much a part of my childhood as the yellow buerre’. Dad’s French improved a great deal from these encounters. Formica table in our small yellow kitchen which we would crowd around He told stories about France at dinnertime and would say, “Eat your to eat dinner. I never minded hearing the same stories over and over. vegetables. During the war, the French people didn’t have enough to eat.” The one I loved the most was when Dad talked about the seven-year- Dad grew up on a farm and hated to see good food go to waste, and said old orphan, Gilbert Des Clos, who lived with a caretaker just above the that there was lots of that at the Sea Bees’ camp. So when it was his turn to Sea Bees’ camp. Dad had noticed the shy, skinny little boy hanging oversee the mess tents, he’d load up pans of steaming meat, potatoes, around the gate to the camp and thought that he looked like he could vegetables, bread and pie, and head down the narrow lanes to a nearby use a good meal. So using his best French, Dad invited Gilbert to go

© HAROLD ZIJP; DIANE COVINGTON-CARTER farmhouse. He’d knock, point to the food, gesture and say ‘pour vous’. through the food line with him at lunch one day. ➻

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The shared lunch became a daily ritual and soon Gilbert began to follow Dad around as he carried out his duties, “My Dad and Gilbert unloading the huge Navy ships or overseeing the camp’s construction and maintenance. Then, when the long, warm became so close that days of the summer turned into the short, crisp days of autumn, Dad’s orders changed. After more than four he looked into months in Normandy, his battalion was being sent home for a short leave and then on to the Pacific. adopting him” By this time, my Dad and Gilbert had become so close that he looked into adopting him to bring him home to June 6 1994, the 50th anniversary of D-Day, also Diane’s Father, Lietenant America. But the French authorities said no. Dad and mentioned the orphan Gilbert Des Clos. Donald K Johnson, United Gilbert had to say goodbye. I adored my Dad, so when In June 1994, my 19-year-old daughter and I began States Naval Reserve, 1944 I’d hear this story, I’d wonder what happened to the a month-long tour of France, including visiting little French boy who had also loved him. Normandy for the ongoing D-Day 50th anniversary In 1991, just before my Dad died, he spoke again about celebrations. In a moving ceremony at the Mairie in , his time in France in the war and the orphan Gilbert Des I received a medal in my Dad’s honour. The Mayor, with Clos. Dad always said Gilbert’s name with the soft ‘g’ tears in his eyes, delivered a short speech in front of sound, the way the French said it, ‘Geelbear’, and his voice each of us, first in French, then in stilted English, as he took on a gentle tone. His words brought back memories of pinned on our medals. the familiar stories from my childhood, and made me While in Caen, I placed a ‘petite annonce’ in the local realise how powerful Dad’s time in France had been for newspaper, Ouest France, to look for Gilbert Des Clos. him. I noted too, that he had never forgotten Gilbert. I had thought that it would be impossible to find the man Maybe because of my Dad’s tales about France, I fell in after 50 years, but the press attaché from the French love with the French language, studied it in high school consulate in San Francisco, who had read my article, and at university, and through the years, I worked to keep encouraged me to try. “The French don’t move around it up using books, tapes and classes. like ‘les Américains’,” she reasoned. “Chances are, he’ll In 1993, two years after my Dad’s death, I travelled to still be right there in Normandy.” Normandy to tour the ‘invasion beaches’ and learn all I She was so right. The next morning, Gilbert Des Clos could about D-Day. I was writing a story in my Dad’s read my ‘petite annonce’ and wept. He’d been waiting honour, describing my experience of the invasion through 50 years for some word from my Dad. Because I had his stories. That article, which appeared in newspapers on thought it might take months or even years to find ➻

D-Day 2014 EvEnt CalEnDar

On June 6 1944, over MarCH May 8 Until December 15 Saint-Côme-du-Mont 5,000 ships, 11,000 planes March 2 ◗ ’39–’45 Tour Conference ◗ So that we Don’t Forget June 3, 10, 17 & 24 and 150,000 Allied troops ◗ Freedom Walk • Fécamp Them & Anglo-Canadian ◗ In the Footsteps of converged on Normandy for • , departure at 9am May 10 War Correspondents the Commandos the ‘D-Day invasion’. June 6 Until October ◗ Freedom Came from the Sea • Exhibition: Pegasus Memorial • Walk: Sword Beach 2014, the 70th anniversary, ◗ Leaving the War Behind – • Walk: Omaha Beach June 4–11 will see the last remaining From the Battle of Normandy May 16 JUnE ◗ Saint-Hilaire-Petitville D-Day veterans remember Through to Reconstruction ◗ Evening of Remembrance Until June 15 Remembers this historic event. If you • Exhibition: 14 towns in • Conference: Château des ◗ Remains of the Atlantic Wall • Exhibition: Recreation Hall, can’t make it to Normandy on Matignon, Torigni-sur-Vire • Exhibition: Dives-sur-Mer Saint-Hilaire-Petitville June 6, you can still create aPrIl May 26-June 5 Until August 31 June 5, evening your own itinerary or book April 6 ◗ The Price of Freedom ◗ Life Under The Occupation ◗ They Were the First guided tours which include ◗ From the Gun Batteries of • Conference: Museum of The • Exhibition: Fermanville • Documentary: Pegasus all the beaches, museums, Azeville to Cricqueville Liberation, Cherbourg, 6.30pm Until September 30 Memorial, cemeteries and other sites. • Walk: Utah Beach Until September 30 ◗ Through Stories June 6 ◗ For up-to-date details of the Until September 1 ◗ Rebirth of a Town • Exhibition: ◗ Concert for Peace planned remembrances, visit ◗ Cherbourg… and Freedom • Exhibition: Rue Torteron & June 2-4 • Sainte-Mère-Église, 8.30pm www.normandie-tourisme.fr Came from the Sea Exhibition Place de la Gare, Saint-Lô ◗ The Freedom Tattoo June 6 • La Cité de La Mer, Cherbourg Until December • Procession and parade: ◗ D-Day Normandy 1944 FEBrUary ◗ 100 Photos by Tony Vaccaro Louis Villemer Sports Stadium • 3D Imax film: Caen Zénith From February 1 May • Exhibition: Caen Memorial & Saint-Lô town centre June 6-8 ◗ Grandma, What Was It Like May 1 Until December June 2-September 30 ◗ They Didn’t Know it During the War? ◗ Life at a German Gun Battery ◗ 100 Objects of the 100 Days ◗ The Greatest Generation was Impossible • Exhibition: Juno Beach • Tour: Azeville Gun Battery, of the Battle of Normandy • Exhibition: History Centre • Tour: Gun Battery, Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer Utah Beach • Exhibition: Caen Memorial of The Parachutists of D-Day, Merville-Franceville-Plage

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FT02.D-DAY.indd 38 08/01/2014 16:42 GARDENSAIX-EN-PROVENCE A LA FRANCAISE City DiscoveryLe Notre

Clockwise from top left: , the main town in the area where Diane’s Father served; Diane placed a collage of photos from 1944 on Gilbert’s coffin; US Army Ranger Ivor Jones (centre) and a grateful French couple during the 60th Anniversary of D-Day rememberance events; Gilbert and his friend Georgette being held by American soliders in 1944; the American Military Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, where 9,387 soldiers were laid to rest

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him, if I found him at all, I had put my home address in the ad. So Gilbert wrote to my address in California. “I was struck how My sister was picking up my mail and saw the large envelope from France and the name Gilbert Des Clos. my Dad’s kindness Knowing how important it was, she faxed the letter back to France, to a number I had given her on our itinerary. Two still reverberated days before my daughter and I were to fly back to California, we had a tearful reunion with Gilbert and his family. All of 64 years later” those years I spent studying French paid off – Gilbert and his family spoke no English. When we parted, I vowed that elderly soldiers who had journeyed back to Normandy. The memorial to the we would never lose touch again. I also spent time with Gilbert and his family. American troops who For two years, we stayed connected through regular I had planned an extended visit with Gilbert for early 2008 landed at Utah Beach letters and phone calls. Then I returned to France with and we all looked forward to it. Sadly, in November 2007, other family members for a grand fête in the town hall of Gilbert was diagnosed with liver cancer. I so hoped that I could Gilbert’s village. The Mayor attended and the local paper get there in time but he died just hours before I was due to ran an article, with photos, about our joyous day. The next arrive. By travelling non-stop, I was able to attend his funeral. year, Gilbert and his family spent two weeks in California, Friends and family filled the church in Gilbert’s village where some 40 members of our family celebrated the on that cold February morning. I sat in the front pew with miracle of our reunion with dinners and picnics, including his family, and as part of the service, placed a frame with an intergenerational, cross-cultural soccer game. a photo of my Dad and one of Gilbert from 1944 onto the I felt wonder and awe that somehow my Dad’s stories casket. They were both gone now. That chapter of the from my childhood had caught up with my real life. And story had ended. But as I watched the candle light Gilbert did become my French brother, just 50 years flickering across the pictures of the young American later than originally planned. As the years passed, I lieutenant and the little French boy, I was struck by how visited Gilbert and his wife Huguette often and kept in my Dad’s kindness – reaching out his hand to a hungry touch with frequent calls and letters. youngster – still reverberated 64 years later. For the 60th anniversary of D-Day in 2004, I travelled to My Dad had wanted Gilbert to become a part of our France with Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours, as a guide American family. If he had come to America, the story and translator for a group of United States Army Rangers and our tie to France would have ended. Instead, I sat and their families. I had the touching job of translating as part of Gilbert’s French family, in an ongoing story of between the grateful French and the ‘vieux soldats’, the love and connection. FT

D-Day 2014 EvEnt CalEnDar cont…

June 7 • Exhibition: Les Muséales • Exhibition: Media Centre of • Procession and parade, • Le Quai des Arts, Argentan ◗ Giant picnic, Omaha Beach de Tourouvre Flers Country Jullouville 10am–4pm August 23 • Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer June 9 July 2-September 11 ◗ Day of Discovery & Activities June 7 ◗ The Atlantic Wall ◗ Walks Between Arromanches aUGUSt • Mont-Ormel ◗ Ceremony of Peace • Conference: Azeville Gun and Merville-Franceville August 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 • Sainte-Mère-Église Town Hall Battery, Utah Beach • Wednesdays, from the Coastal ◗ ’39–’45 Tour SEPtEMBEr June 8 June 14-September 14 Station or the Historical Site • Conference: Fécamp September 7 ◗ The First Football Match ◗ The Lights of Liberty July 5, 12, 19 & 26 August 9-17 ◗ ’39–’45 Tour in Free France • Sound and light show: ◗ ’39–’45 Tour ◗ Exhibition of a Panther tank • Conference: Fécamp • Henri Jeanne Stadium, Bayeux Bayeux Cathedral, at nightfall • Conference: Fécamp and German motorcycles September 11 June 8 June 28-August 31 July 8 & 22, Aug 5 & 19 • Montormal Memorial ◗ Historical walk ◗ Parachute Show ◗ Torigni in Torment ◗ In the Footsteps of August 15-16 • Departing from , • La Fière,Sainte-Mère-Église • Exhibition: Château des the Commandos ◗ Operation Paddle 1944 9.30am June 8 Matignon, Torigni-sur-Vire • Guided walk: Sword Beach • Exhibition, Guy Môquet Hall, September 14 ◗ ’39–’45 Tour June 28 July 12-13 Dives-sur-Mer, 10am – 6pm ◗ March of Peace • Conference: Fécamp ◗ Liberation Ball ◗ Freedom Celebrated August 20 & Reconciliation June 8 • 40s meal & dance, Fermanville • Festival & firework display: ◗ Historical walk • From the Memorial of ◗ Concert for Freedom June 30 Bolleville, 10am–12 midnight • Departing from Ouistreham, Montormel to Tournai-sur- • , 8.30pm ◗ The Occupation of July 18 9.30am Dives, 9.15am–5pm June 8 the Châteaux ◗ Wavelengths of War August 22 September 20 ◗ Service for Peace • Conference: Château • Sound tour by torchlight, ◗ Jazz concert ◗ The Atlantic Wall & • Merville gun battery, 10.30am de Carneville, 8pm Cape Fagnet, Fécamp, 3pm • Place Lemercier, Touques, Operation Jubilee by June 8-August 16 JUly July 31 7–9pm Jérôme Prieur ◗ Heroes or Martyrs, Until August 31 ◗ 70th Anniversary of the August 22-23 • Documentary: Le Grand Tourouvre in Torment ◗ Reconstruction of Flers Liberation of Jullouville ◗ Grand Music Show Cinema, Fécamp 9.30pm

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D-Day 70th anniversary A selection of things to see and do

On May 1, a special tour will take Landings beaches to be officially listed exhibition brings together an array of place on the theme of Life in a German as a historic monument. It is also the documents, objects and models which Gun Battery during the Occupation. sole battery which is still equipped evoke the exploits of the soldiers, Azeville, Mache with its original guns. The site features sailors and pilots who took part, and bitly.com/Azeville-Battery a command post and four casemates, the museum tour concludes with a each housing an artillery piece. gripping film about Operation Jubilee. ◗ The Pointe du Hoc Visitor Centre Longues-sur-Mer, Calvados Dieppe, Seine-Maritime The clifftop Pointe du Hoc Visitor www.bayeux-bessin-tourisme.com/ www.dieppe-operationjubilee- Centre was transformed in 2013, blog/visiteguidee/batterie-delongues- 19aout1942.com moving into a stylish contemporary sur-mer building which doubled its space. ◗ Bruneval Memorial ’42 The Caen Memorial Centre It was on this exceptional site that On the night of February 27 1942, United States Army Rangers scaled some 120 British soldiers from the ◗ Caen Memorial Centre for History the 100-foot cliffs, destroyed a 2nd Battalion of the Parachute and Peace vital German gun battery and took Regiment were dropped over the The essential museum for everything possession of this strategic position, Cap d’Antifer to carry out an assault you need to know about World War giving them control of the coast road, on a radar station. Operation Biting, 2, in particular those concerning the and thereby playing an important role the first airborne operation carried D-Day Landings and the Battle of in the Allies’ D-Day success. out by the Allies in occupied France, Normandy. The Caen Memorial has Criqueville-en-Bessin, Calvados was a success. A new memorial, recently inaugurated a new exhibition www.isigny-grandcamp-intercom.fr inaugurated in 2012 in the commune space which recreates General of Saint-Jouin-Bruneval, pays tribute. Richter’s subterranean bunker, with ◗ American Military Cemetery The Gun Battery of Longues-sur-Mer Saint-Jouin-Bruneval, Seine-Maritime inventive staging that highlights Some 9,387 American soldiers were laid www.bruneval42.com the military aspects of the German to rest in the American Military Cemetery ◗ Cherbourg… And Freedom Came Occupation, as well as the history at Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha from the Sea. NEW of the Atlantic Wall. Beach. A chapel, memorial and a garden From April to September, La Cité ◗ Overlord Museum Among the events marking the of remembrance honour their memory. de la Mer stages this exhibition Dedicated to June 6 1944 and the 70th Anniversary are an international Colleville-sur-Mer, Calvados which, using photos and archive Battle of Normandy, this brand exhibition of press illustrations (April www.abmc.gov films, explores the work of new museum boasts a unique and 4-6), the 100 photos by Tony Vaccaro United States forces in the days exceptional collection of over exhibition (May), a Battle of Normandy after Cherbourg was liberated, 10,000 objects and documents. conference (May 21-23) and also two which included mine clearance, These valuable artefacts have been monumental paintings by the artist reconstruction of the quays, etc. carefully gathered from across Jef Aérosol (June 3-4). Cherbourg, Manche Normandy, over the course of more Caen, Calvados www.citedelamer.com than 40 years, by a first-hand www.memorial-caen.fr witness to the conflict. ◗ Driving tour of Falaise-Chambois. Colleville-sur-Mer, Calvados ◗ Arromanches 360° This 12-mile driving tour with ten stops www.overlordmuseum.com Starting in February 2014, the explains the Battle of the Falaise- Arromanches 360° circular cinema is Chambois pocket and starts from the showing a new film, Normandy’s 100 Memorial of Montormel in the heart of Days. This retraces the history of the The American Military Cemetery the area where the action took place . battle, from the preparations for the This was the largest confrontation of D-Day Landings to the Liberation ◗ Military Cemetery World War 2 and its outcome led to of Paris and was produced by the Situated in the North-West of the liberation of the rest of Europe. makers of the hugely successful Calvados, this German Military The route takes you along part of French television series, Apocalypse. Cemetery is a poignant site with ‘The Corridor of Death’, through which Arromanches-les-Bains, Calvados 21,300 graves. It features a visitor the German forces withdrew. www.arromanches360.com centre, a permanent exhibition space Mont-Ormel, Orne and a garden planted with 1,200 www.memorial-montormel.org The Overlord Museum ◗ Azeville Gun Battery maples – living symbols of peace. ourisme; overlord museum T For a truly lifelike reconstruction of La Cambe, Calvados ◗ Operation Jubilee ◗ Guided Tours the great moments of the Battle of www.volksbund.de This memorial exhibition to the Allied For an in-depth experience, Normandy, the Azeville Gun Battery troops who took part in the bloody companies such as Stephen Ambrose alvados alvados C

T; at Utah Beach has been repainted in ◗ Gun Battery of Longues-sur-Mer Operation Jubilee raid on the port Historical Tours offer all-inclusive its original camouflage colours. These Situated between Arromanches and of Dieppe on August 19 1942, a tours with a historian, both during the have been recreated through archive Omaha Beach, Longues-sur-Mer is failed attempt to make a temporary anniversary and throughout the year. photographs dating back to 1944. the only gun battery above the D-Day bridgehead in occupied France. The www.stephenambrosetours.com e valere C r e valere ©

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