Whitebeam Meet in Normandy 2018

Neil,

The man asked us not to publish his name or his farm location as he has had idiots walk in and steal stuff in the recent past. I wish those people would just stay away from Normandy as, quite understandably, we all get tarred with the same brush.

As we saw on Sunday, even the owners at Brecourt Manor are getting fed up with battlefield tourists just taking access for granted. When you have to put an infoal mare along the gun line to prevent metal detecting, I think the day is coming when a lot of these sites will be closed completely. All because of a small band of idiots who really should not be let loose in the countryside at all.

Regards,

Pat

 

My first day in Normandy, 6th June 2018,

I had hoped to first visit the Hamburg Battery to the east of Cherbourg once I had picked up the hire car but to be honest, I was a little nervous of driving on the 'wrong side of the road' to be comfortable looking for the turn off on the D901 and decided to instead get used to the car and try out one of those automated filling stations which I found near Barfleur on the NE corner of the Cotentin Peninsula. My nervousness stemmed both from the right hand drive and the the cheerful lady in the Enterprise Car Rental office in Cherbourg when she stated:

'Pat, this is a brand new car I am giving you and I want it back as a new car!'

If you have never used one of these self service filling station machines before, it is a daunting task getting the bloody thing to sell you fuel. The car took diesel and thankfully I had deduced that 'gazole' was this type of fuel and not 'gas' as in the American term for petrol! Anyway, with the help of some pigeon French and a kind gentleman eating his lunch in a nearby car, I eventually got the beast to issue me with €6.75 worth of diesel using my Visa/Debit card after it spat out my MasterCard three times. The car of course had been filled by the hire company before they signed it out to me.

Taking the coast road south along the eastern side of the Cotentin, I suddenly saw a crossroads with a sign for the 'Crisbecq Batterie' and having gotten somewhat more comfortable with the brand new hire car, I felt confident to use the indicator and turn off. This site is fully and unashamedly commercialised and requires a hefty €10 entrance fee to the museum shop, together with a walk round the site of the battery complex. My first impression of the place is that they should have left it alone. building fake trenches with brand new barbed wire on top, painting rusting real guns and inserting dummy guns with accompanying camouflage netting just takes the good out of the place. I left feeling a little cheated of my €10 and headed south to my first base 300 meters from the Marauder Hangar at Utah Beach Museum.

Maurille Bérou and Laurent Perpoil run the Villa Les Garennes B&B and I have to say the choice of breakfast menu is something to behold! A lovely location and I was really lucky to get it as such short notice back in May for the night of the 6th June. After parking the brand new hire car with the aid of its reversing camera and getting settled in, I wandered back up to the museum with my own camera and paid a more modest and far better value entrance fee of €8.00. It was still afternoon and the day's ceremonies were still in full swing in the attached Marauder Hangar. The place was full of Americans as you would expect and I could see a large group centered on what were obviously two veterans under the nose of the Marauder marked up as 41-31576 'Dinah Might' (AN-Z) of the 553rd BS / 386th BG USAAF. I don't know if this is the original lady, but if so, she would have been over Utah Beach during the early hours of D-Day bombing German positions.

The fanfare and pageantry of the day was obvious, honest and a delight to behold. I had hoped to get a word with the two veterans, but after the third rendition of the 'Star Spangled Banner' I knew there wasn't a hope. Turning to go back into the Museum, my eye set upon a lone gentleman pushing himself on one of those half wheelchair half zimmer frame things. He was going from one display to another all by himself in the darkened museum and I could see he was deep in thought. Feeling a bit like an intruder, I went up to the display he was now looking at and made some opening comment about the great quality of the LCT and LCI models behind the glass. We got chatting and I asked him if he was a veteran. He confirmed he was; his name was Bob Reynolds and he told me he flew in a Lancaster on the night of the 5th/6th June dropping 'window' along the French coast. I thought to myself 'have I got a 617 Squadron veteran right here in front of me!' Turns out he flew with No. 101 Squadron, 1 Group, who accompanied 617 on either Operation 'Glimmer' or 'Taxable'. I asked Bob if would it be OK if I done a bit of research on him and No.101 Squadron and he replied 'please do Pat; I would be delighted' He gave me his email address and shook my hand with one of the most solid grips I have ever felt. Then he turned to leave, looked out at the Americans in the hangar and said in a low parting whisper, 'everyone remembers them...'

I went to bed feeling not a little humbled.

More follows.

Regards,

Pat

 

Day 2 -Thursday, 7th June 2018:

Following breakfast at my Villa Les Garennes B&B, my gracious hosts Maurille and Laurent asked me about my trip to Normandy and were intrigued to learn that I was part of an amateur battlefield research group. Maurille asked if I might be able to help her find out some information about the Greek/American who name had been attributed to the road between her property and the beach - Angelo Theodore Chatas. She had drawn a blank to date in her own efforts. Apparently he was killed in the early hours of the invasion while landing as part of an advanced party which had swam ashore in frogmen suits. I promised we would do our best here on the Forum to bring some light onto this man's story.

Having given Maurille some tasters as to the type of work we do on Whitebeam, she thought she might be able to help with the location of the dressing station I am currently seeking to establish a location for as per post #21 in the 'German Pows with French Guide' thread. Maurille had a contact in the Utah Beach Museum who might be able to get us in to see the curator, but with the day being the one it was, the curator we found was already in a meeting when we inquired at the ticket counter. She then brought me over to the 'Le Roosevelt Cafe' and introduced me to the owner, Daniel Daburon. Daniel is apparently nearly always at some other location as he lives somewhere over in the Caen area, so we were lucky to happen on him. When we again explained my reason for being in Normandy, I feared he was going to shut up the cafe! He took down every single photo he had on the wall for me to photograph and below are some shots from this sequence:


The photo of the newspaper is from a conversation between Maurille and Daniel trying to get me hooked up to the Utah Beach Museum curator.
Danielle then brought me outside the cafe and unlocked the gate going into his private museum downstairs in the attached German bunker. Apparently this bunker was taken over by the Americans and used as a communications centre for the entire Utah Beach sector:

We then set off looking for my dressing station location and eventually ended up at Chateau Colombieres which of course was not the location I had been seeking to confirm. However, it transpired that it was a fortuitous trip as just as we were about to return to Villa Les Garennes B&B for lunch, we spotted Madame Mayor leaving her office in Hiesville. Again, once my credentials had been established, the Mayor insisted on re-opening the office and bringing us in to show me her collection of very rare photographs taken at the 101st Hospital at Chateau Colombieres. Of the six she showed me, I had only ever seen one of them before. She then very graciously offered to open the office on the following day, that of Friday, 8th June at 10am especially for my group and to obtain permission from the owner of the Chateau Colombieres property for us to visit the site.

After lunch I drove over to our CP at Le Houlland farmhouse and later met John, Chuck and Neil. A real treat to finally meet you guys for real! I was also delighted that Neil had painstakingly printed off some our non-NCAP aerial photos in segments and taped them together to create super size prints which covered the entire pool table in the games room. Thank you Neil!!!

More follows....

Regards,

Pat

 

Day 3 - Friday 8th June 2018:

Our 10:00hr appointment with the Mayor of Hiesville, Madame Agnès Bouffard proved to be a real highlight of the tour. We are indebted to this gracious lady for her great kindness in coming to open the Maire for us on a 'closed day' and showing us her unique collection of photographs taken at the 101st Airborne Divisional Hospital at Chateau de Colombieres just up the road. These photos she also kindly allowed us to photograph and are reproduced on our FB page here.

Having spent an hour in the Maire, Agnès then took us up the road to visit the Chateau de Colombieres property having spoke to the owner on our behalf the previous evening. This location is normally off limits to the casual battlefield rambler and it was the first time I had seen this famous location. Both the Chateau and the distinctive gatehouse are now both gone following the destruction wrought by the German night bombing. The remaining two buildings, marked A and B, are in very good repair and set off the present day courtyard with a tight grasp which immediately drags you back 74 years in time. The feeling of oneness with the past is very strong as soon as you enter under the ghost gatehouse:

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The most extensive collection of footage shot at Chateau de Colombieres which I know of is the sequences shown in Tyler Alberts DVD '101st Airborne - Invasion of Normandy Series'. I have reproduced below eight screenshots from this footage with Tyler's permission:

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The ties to buildings A and B are obvious but I feel its still worth doing, especially having now that we are in the privileged position of having gained permission to enter and photograph the property.

Thank you Agnès!

The remainder of the day we spent at various other locations including a visit to the Brigader General Pratt Memorial, and the 'Pond Field' (we had not been able to see the owner of the Pond Field to ask permission to enter the property, so we took our observations and photos from the public road).

After lunch we went over onto the Merderet River locations at La Fiere Bridge and the Malcolm Branner / General Falley Ambush site, taking in a visit to the 9th Troop Carrier Command Memorial at Picauville.

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Having filled all our cameras' image cards, we returned to base and boiled up a large pot of spuds, which went down well with one of the two bottles of cider left on the kitchen table by our host at 'Le Houlland'

Regards,

Pat

 

Hi Eisso,

Yes the tow rope is at least that thickness, but I think the Horsa rope was thicker than the Waco. I have seen footage of Wacos being prepped for towing and the rope, complete with comms cable, was not that thick. The farmer's rope has a steel reinforcing cable in the centre of the hemp threads.

Regards,

Pat

 

Thanks Neil,

Then Chuck's sample is from a Horsa for sure. I just assumed the central cable was reinforcement.

Regards,

Pat