April 2014
Le Cardonnois (Somme)
En français
Coming from California, we had the pleasure to welcome once again Nancy Costello-Scovill, daughter of 2nd Lt. Robert L. Costello and her husband Dennis. This visit had a particular aspect as it was intended to go to Brittany, to Plouha, where a ceremony and many events were planned to commemorate the Shelburn escape line and the Liberation.
A few days before this stay in Plouha, we went to Le Cardonnois (Somme) where we were greeted by the former mayor, Mr Guyon, where we paid homage in front of the memorial honouring the crew of the Flying Fortress shot down near the village on 8th February 1944. Emotionally, Nancy laid a bouquet of flowers at the foot of the memorial erected in May 2011 where are engraved the names of the ten crew members including her father. 2nd Lt. Costello the co-pilot, 2nd Lt. Lorenzi the pilot, 2nd Lt. Packer the navigator and T/Sgt Sweeney the top turret gunner had been picked up by the surrounding population and were able to return to England with the help of the Shelburn escape line.
Many memorials and a small museum recall this important place of American History.
A touching visit for Nancy and Dennis who did not miss thanking our guide (thank you Gilles) and the villagers for their commitment in perpetuating the memory and the duty of remembering their fallen countrymen, nearly 100 years in this little corner of Picardy.
The rest of their stay continued in Plouha, Côtes d'Armor.
Everything was to celebrate this event : the town was decorated, the shop windows were dressed with items of the period and the walls of the church were hung with very large photographs recalling the time of the Liberation.
Plouha happened to be the final link of the Shelburn escape chain. Numerous Allied airmen, shot down on the soil of France during raids against the Reich, having crossed Paris, for the most part, were collected and conveyed to this small town in Brittany. The Shelburn mission initiated by the British Secret Service and led by two Canadians in France, Lucien Dumais and his radio-operator Raymond Labrosse, helped by the Resistance organizations throughout the chain, proved to be a much faster way repatriating the airmen than other existing lines, such as "Comet" or "Burgundy", which led the escapees to the Spanish border, where they got back to the United Kingdom via Gibraltar.
Bonaparte Beach
On Thursday 17th April, an evening of memories entitled "Shelburn and the Resistance" led by the newspaper Ouest-France, was organised by the municipality in the village hall where a large audience was seated.
Among historians, two key witnesses : Mesdames Marguerite Le Saux-Pierre and Anne Ropers, conveyors and lodgers, last survivors of the Shelburn network who honoured the meeting with their presence.
This meeting, where the public was invited to participate, recalled both the preponderant role of the Shelburn mission since its creation in 1943 and the remarkable and courageous actions of the families of Plouha who had, discretely, to accommodate and convey the airmen before their embarkation at the "Bonaparte" beach.
In the audience, some participants evoked, in turn, their childhood memories at the time when they lived in fear of the Occupier, subject to restrictions, but also telling some funny stories.
The Costello-Scovill and Patton-Wand families
Chaired by Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Defence, a solemn and national tribute was paid to the Shelburn network.
The ceremony began with a speech by the Mayor of Plouha then the word was given to the Minister of Defence.
On behalf of the State, Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian made a moving tribute to the network members. "...Passeurs of the Freedom, helping in the night fallen but not defeated combatants, to all the inhabitants of Plouha and around, to all those who housed, fed, cared for and encouraged, to all the Resistance workers of Brittany and moreover, to all the Resistance networks, to all the friends of the Freedom, I pay , on behalf of the Nation, a solemn tribute. With their heroic and decisive action, they already passed the breath of Freedom into the sea air of Brittany…"
These speeches were followed by a minute of silence and the national anthems of Canada, of the United States and of Great Britain. La Marseillaise was sung in unison by school pupils.
Many white balloons then flew up into the blue sky, symbolizing the Allied airmen who escaped from this beach in 1944.
The engines were then started up. The procession was formed with at its head a superb Buick Staff Car which had taken place on board the last two Resistance workers of the Shelburn network. Amidst the population waving tricolour flags, the long parade of vehicles then took the direction of the "Bonaparte" beach before returning to the village.
That day ended at the Hermine village hall where a show, led by Jean-Marie Thomas, allowed the audience to immerse itself in the musical atmosphere, the time of the Freedom recovered.
These four days of festivity finished on Sunday 20th April with the show "Rezistans", a moving choreography stage played by the Cercle Celtique of Guingamp on the theme of the Shelburn network followed by a screening of the documentary film "Passeurs de l’Ombre” directed by Rolland Savidan.
At the end of the film, the Resistance workers, descendants of the missing members of the network, children of the escaped airmen gathered one last time in front of the stage to thank the municipality of Plouha and the organizers for their hospitality, their full involvement in perpetuating the memory of the Shelburn network and thus maintain the duty of memory.
These four days spent at Plouha were a tremendous opportunity for very warm meetings with the Resistance workers, with their families and the population.
The daughters of Robert L. Costello and of Ralph K. Patton did not miss any opportunity, throughout these days of remembrance, to express their deep gratitude to those who, despite the enormous risks they ran in supporting the Allied cause, had allowed their fathers to return home safe and sound.
