Set sail for murder

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Americans in Paris

I just finished "American in Paris: Life & Death Under Nazi Occupation by Charles Glass. On this Veteran's Day I am still amazed by the courage of all Veterans who served in WWII. This book captures the lives of Americans in Paris who risked their lives to help RAF and US airmen who were shot down over France during the occupation to escape back to England and to continue the fight against the Axis forces. What brave men, to be willing to continue to fight after being shot down and/or injured. We have no idea of their courage. It took courage to defy the Nazis knowing of their tactics of retribution: being killed as a hostage when any attempt to resist was detected. And to be working as a spy against the Nazis when it appeared to your friends and co-workers that you were collaborating with the enemy. What a conundrum that would be, I cannot comprehend. We Americans owe everything to the courage of these men and women, veterans or resistance. That book left me with many unanswered questions: what happened to Petain after the war? Where did the millions that Charles Bedaux have in his businesses end up? How did the French fare after the war? Did the people of the French Resistance get a hand in the government after all their sacrifices to fight fascism? Ah, to find more books to read, my greatest pleasure at this stage in my life. I also re-read, " With My Heart in My Mouth" by Duncan Norton-Taylor about the war in the Pacific as the tide was turning in our favor.The battle of Kula Gulf was detailed in this book by a 40-some war correspondent who was not trained to be a soldier. He survived the war  to become the managing editor of fortune magazine, retiring in 1967. War correspondents in this time and then should also be commended for their bravery. (Musing of a chicken at heart.)