"Never Forget"
Madame Simone Renaud, the wife of the mayor of Ste. Mere-Eglise, – also known as the Mother of Normandy – was 45 years old when the United States invaded Normandy during World War II. She and her three young sons watched in horror as German soldiers opened fire onto the 101st and 82nd Airborne Division soldiers.
Seizing Ste. Mere-Eglise prior to the D-Day beach landings was crucial to the Allied offensive. A German counterattack would likely use the main road that ran through the town, and the Allies were determined to hold it.
Mixed units of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions had hoped to use surprise and confusion to overwhelm the German garrison there, but stray incendiary bombs set many of the town's buildings ablaze. The German soldiers and the townspeople were fully alert and fighting the fires when the paratroopers began landing among them.
The Americans were shot as they landed. Some fell into the burning buildings, and their screams could be heard above the loudly ringing church bells. Others got hung up on poles, buildings, and trees, and were shot before they could cut themselves down. Renaud's husband witnessed several Germans emptying their machine guns into one paratrooper as he hung helplessly above them. It seemed that the assault on the town would end in failure and catastrophe.
But the young paratroopers fought back. They could see what was happening below and started firing their guns as they descended. Wounded paratroopers who were lying in the streets, some bleeding to death, shot the Germans as they tried to pick off their descending comrades. Renaud and her three frightened young sons huddled in their home as the fierce fight raged in the streets outside.
At 4:30 a.m., the town finally fell to the Americans. As the reinforcing soldiers arrived, they were stunned by the macabre scene. Dead paratroopers lay in the streets and dangled from trees, their blood staining the cobblestone streets. Lt. Col. Edward Krause could utter only three words: "Oh, my God."
Madame Renaud, the wife of the mayor of Ste. Mere-Eglise, vowed to always remember the sacrifices made by these brave young American men whose young lives were cut short at the hands of the Germans.
In the weeks following the invasion, this young mother took it upon herself and began taking care of the grave sites of the more than 15,000 US troops who died and were buried in temporary cemeteries in and around the area.
When Life Magazine published a photo of Madame Renaud decorating the grave site of General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., she began receiving numerous pieces of mail from US families asking if she would take care of their son’s resting place as well. Some asked if she would photograph their loved ones resting place and send it to them.
Even Madame Renaud could not have envisioned the 44 year journey she was embarking upon - a journey that would last until her death in 1988. During those years, she wrote countless letters, took hundreds and hundreds of photos, organized ceremonies, corresponded with many of the families who lost loved ones in Normandy and even sent soil samples to them from the grave sites.
Madame Renaud also cared for the veteran's who survived. She hosted ceremonies and events, chartering planes and trains to bring them back to the first town they liberated in Normandy.
She died in 1988. Just as she never forgot those who died so she and her fellow townspeople could be free, the veterans made sure she too would never be forgotten.
Her sons continued her work.
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Amazing story.