Léon Gautier

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up to 75-anniversary of The D-Day When British, American and Canadian troops landed in France to drive Out the occupying German Army , Will be a special one, for a dwindling group of People - those who at the time were there. The BBC's Emma Jane Kirby, a U.S. veteran and two French civilians are met.

which reminds the 96-year-old Jake Larson at The Most on "D-Day" is The Feeling of exhaustion. And, the exhaustion, and His first taste of champagne.

"Let me tell You the story!", he says from His home in California, such as we chat on The Phone . "You love this story!"

seventy-five years and Jake's vintage stories of The War are still as bubbly and sparkling as the champagne that he used to knock back in the Normandy. For 65, maybe 70 years, he refused to talk about His experiences on the French Coast , When he left the U.S. army in 1945, he was demobbed with "the shakes," he says. But if he had to pop the cork, under memories lather and spread pressed in Technicolor .

Jake Larson, Jake had The National guard in the U.S. state of Minnesota at the age of 15 years. He had lied about His age, in The Hope that he would get paid for it, And Then - he had only signed because he wanted to, would be 10 cents for a movie ticket to the latest Gene Autry film with His cousin. But The National guardsmen were among The First to be drafted into the U.S. army, and from 1944 to Jake, a sergeant was. If anyone found Out he could type, he was quickly delivered to the US army HQ in England to a caseworker, the input of the loading orders for the Normandy invasion plans of the US V Corps .

"man, I was so tired!" he remembers. "No one had slept on the 4. or 5. [June], and the seas so rough we were turning and turning and everyone was sick. But in the 6. June, probably around 06:30 PM, it was time to go, and here we were landing at Omaha Beach with the Water up to the neck and machine-gun fire on all sides. It's a shooting booth. "

The Sea , he says, was red with The Blood of The Soldiers who had stepped on mines, and he remembers sliding, floating body made its way to the shore. After scrambling on The Beach , he hid trembling behind a small sandbar and trying to calm His nerves with a cigarette, he asked, The Soldier ducked behind him for a game. If The Man didn't reply, Jake nudged him and saw that there was no Head under the helmet.

Find Out more time just evaporates, of the day, Jake reflected. He remembers the establishment of a command from the rocks, dig to sleep in a foxhole, and at seven o'clock in the evening, he was tired. That's When he was told by His commanding officer that he Will be responsible for The Night shift.

the next morning - Jake's longed-for sleep time - the cannons roared again and more tanks rolled onto The Beach .

"I couldn't sleep with The Noise !", he protested. "I just couldn't sleep, and People that I really needed to rest!"

It was The Locals , who have Jake. As he stumbled away from The Beach toward The Village , French civilians, they rushed to greet The Liberators , hugging The Soldiers and handing in of Normandy, cheese and other local specialities.

"It was Camembert!" Pleasures Jake. "Am I also correct to Express? It was delicious, the Camembert cheese, but I don't know how You ate that Thing - I was just a Farm Boy from Minnesota! Then they Gave us champagne! Wow!!! Man! Do You have a drink ever champagne?"

Jake giggling down The Phone line.

"I used to drink a whole bottle of champagne every day! We were in the open, and they (the Germans) were shooting at us and we shot back - and The Noise ! And I had to sleep in! Well, the champagne was already a Thing - You drink a bottle, and You could fall asleep! It's amazing stuff was!"

At her home in Angers, the 90-year-old Thérèse le Chevalier claps her hands together in joy When I tell her about Jake and His champagne cure for insomnia.

Back in June 1944, Therese a 15-year-old boarding-school student, but When a cousin works for The Resistance indicated to her mother that something significant would happen, on the Coast of Normandy, Thérèse's mother ordered her home to Bernieres-sur-Mer, the coastal section, known to the allies as Juno Beach .

Canadian troops to Land in Bernières-sur-Mer As Jake Larson would have been clutching His stomach and vomiting in the roles of transport-ship, as he was waiting, waiting to land on Omaha Beach , Therese was sat with her parents and Little Sister in a ditch on the back of their yard, on the ground to stop shaking with the bombs and shots. And once it's done, You went on the road.

"joy! The Amazing feeling When we saw all those soldiers!" she shouts. "The First were the Canadians, and some had blackened their faces to avoid to be discovered. And there are all kinds of weapons were to come, tanks and jeeps!"

Canadian troops Will meet the villagers Later, while their parents are busy goods, You and your Little Sister snuck me in to look at The Sea , and were surprised, he grabbed with boats sporting silver anti-plane-kite-balloons.

"is It strange", she reflects. "But I do not remember seeing dead bodies, or someone is injured on The Beach . My 15-year-old self did not understand death, did not believe in the death, so maybe I'm just blocked it. "

I Will remind, chased by The Soldiers , who warned that The Beach was dangerous and there were Things that were not, to see fit for a child.

sparkles, But for The Most part, Thérèse, as she speaks, her memories of D-Day and the joy is absolutely contagious.

"Everyone was on The Street ," she tells me. "You were so happy because we were The First to be Liberated , we felt free, but really, because we were still alive! This whole day was a wonderful feeling of life. "

Therese's mother opened her house for The Soldiers to welcome them and to try to warm them up.

"naturally, we regret that such bad Things ," says Thérèse, her hands cupping the face. "Because You were all wet from the walk in The Sea - oh, we felt so sorry for You ! My Mother boiled Water throughout the day for their tea and we made them Coffee . "She shakes her finger, self-correct. "We also had no Coffee , then, of course, I think it was barley that we Gave You . "

Thérèse shows me a photo of yourself taken around the time of the D-Day landings and I look at a picture of a beautiful, confident young woman who is piled with masses of thick, dark hair high up on her Head .

Thérèse Le Sueur , was Thérèse Le Chevalier, "Oh Yes!" She laughs coquettishly. "My hair was my pride and joy, my crowning glory!"

The Soldiers were visibly charmed by this pretty 15-year-old and Gave her sweets and biscuits from their rations. But The Gift she remembers most clearly is the small box with chocolate You Gave her, which can be heated as a drink is most.

Therese closes Her Eyes in ecstasy as she remembers tasting it, that the battalions of Canadian and British soldiers.

"Honestly," she sighs, "I never drank a chocolate in My Life !"

on this evening, she says, The Soldiers moved a piano from one of the bombs damaged the house in The Street And One of them played for The Village . Thérèse does not remember the exact melodies that he played, but You know, it was something joyful.

"we danced," she laughs. "We danced until The Night came. "

While we chat, Thérèse's husband, Pierre looks at us quietly, occasionally sighing and shaking His Head . His experience of the liberation was very Different from His wife, because he and the German were defeated 20km lived to the South of Bernieres-sur-Mer in Caen , which would endure another two months of heavy bombardment before.

A French liberator, Leon Gautier , and the patched-up photo of Dorothea, whom he later married On may 6. In June 1944, the 21-year-old Leon Gautier was one of the 177 elite French commandos that took part in the landing in Normandy with The British 4 Commando unit.

He was one of The First men, the Gentlemen, The First step on Sword Beach - The British soldiers were "," he says, and allowed the French to land first. He was dismayed When she got the photo of His English girlfriend, Dorothea, wet in The Sea . Later, in a trench, he repaired it with the sticking plaster from His first-aid kit.

He remembers meeting a couple of French civilians in the vicinity of Sword Beach and laugh When You suspected, he's a British subject was and tried to talk to His unit in the English language. She told him that the allied left being afraid of consequences, as forces. "We Will not go back," he told them. "This Time it's for good. "

"There are many, many dead in Caen was," he reminds me. "And we knew nothing about D-Day. In this night, (6. June) the bombs fell, non-stop. We asked for something to happen, but we didn't know it was accompanied by soldiers landing on the Normandy Coast . All we saw were over the German reinforcements and, later, trucks returning from The Front full of dead soldiers. "

Pierre smiles at us sadly.

75th anniversary of d-day, france, long reads, us armed forces, d-day, world war two

Source of news: bbc.com