Retrouvailles Avec Des Amis

As I burst through the doorway, I saw two men standing behind her.  I was amazed there stood two guys from my crew:  Gotty, our engineer, and Sam, the bombardier.  We were glad to see each other and full of questions we each wanted to know.  For instance, how they got out of the plane after we were attacked.  Gotty said he came down to the nose and seeing only Sam there said where the hell is Joe, and Sam said I was gone when he had turned around and knew he had to get out.  I had thought I had taken my time and told them both the number ONE on the navigator indicating he had to leave first had been uppermost in my thinking.

The lady of the house, Mde. Titron, stopped our talking and herded us into the kitchen where we were to spend most of our time during our stay there.  The lady introduced herself and introduced her mother and daughter who sat in the kitchen.  The daughter must have been about 13 or 14.  They were all such nice people.  M. Titron came in later and welcomed us.

The house was to be our home for about two weeks.  Due to boredom we gradually lost track of dates.  The house was at the corner of a street in the town of La Basee de Nord.  There was a fire hydrant right at the corner, an important item for our hosts and their neighbors as no one had running water in their houses.  This hydrant was the source of all their water.

The house had a central hall.  The living room was on the left hand side and was never used, at least while I was there.  It wasn’t heated nor were any other rooms; only the kitchen was warm.  On the right side of the hall was the kitchen.  There was a staircase in the hall to the upstairs.  We slept in the room above the kitchen and did get some heat from the kitchen.  The kitchen stove, the source of all their heat, was a wood-burning stove.  There was a door to the outside in this kitchen and a path that led to the outhouse.

Before you got to the path, there was a shelter where the Titrons kept rabbits.  The rabbits were kept for food and were, of course, important to them.  I was aware before I saw the rabbits that there was something in the house that was bothering me.  I am allergic to the dander of furry animals, but I thought I would be here for only a day or two and I could manage somehow.

The stove in the kitchen was right by the door to the hall.  A huge dining room table was in the middle of the room and many chairs around the room.  There were no cabinets.  I don’t know where they could keep anything.

The next day after I arrived two more American airman arrived so that made five of us, and we were all to use the same bedroom.  In this room there was a double bed in which Gotty, Sam and I had slept the first night.  The second night we had two pads put into the room for the two additional men.  We arranged then that the man on the right side of the bed would sleep the next night on a mat on the floor.  One man who had slept on the mat would then sleep on the left side of the bed.  The guy who had slept in the middle of the bed would now have the right side, and the guy who had the left side would now be in the middle.  Each night we changed from the position we had the night before.  It was a fair way, but I for one looked forward to the mat on the floor.  What other bedroom or bedrooms there were, I have no idea.  Like every household, patterns developed with things done every day.  Early each morning Mde.  Titron brought coffee to us before we got up.  The coffee was very bitter and very strong.  This made me a very early riser.  I got out of bed and dressed and went downstairs so I didn’t have to drink that coffee.  Every two or three days M. Titron lent us his razor to shave. Of course this was done in the kitchen usually with quite a few people watching.

The dander from the rabbits bothered me, and everyone thought I had caught a cold.  I still thought we’d be on our way soon.  I tried not to go to the outhouse any more often than necessary so that I wouldn’t be exposed to those darn rabbits.

We were well fed; the Titrons were generous.  Dinner was always at nine or nine thirty.  Mde. Titron cooked at the big wood burning stove, always with people standing or sitting around her.

My French improved a lot here because I was using it, and the Titrons were helping me.  None of the others could understand or even try to use a few words.  We often had company in the house.  Evidently, if company was expected, we were present and the main reason for the visit.  If they had unexpected visitors, we were immediately expected to run quietly up the stairs and stay absolutely quiet.  When a visitor arrived, he would go around the room and cordially shake hands with each and every person, and when he left, each person had this same personal attention, a handshake.

We did find out we weren’t the first airmen they had helped.  They had had both Canadian and American airmen before, they told us proudly.

Mde. Titron’s mother purchased bread for us and walked long ways in order not to buy too much bread in any one location and make people suspicious.  The rabbits were our main dish at dinner.  They were delicious except when cooked they lay on the platter complete with their heads.  The hide and fur were gone, but those terribly accusing eyes staring at us were a little hard to stomach.  We had fish sometimes, and they too were served with their heads and eyes.

The two airmen who had come last bothered me a lot.  They would make insulting remarks about our hosts and their food.  The Titrons asked what they said, and I would lie and try to say something nice as far as my French and their help would let me.  I still had to think in English and then translate in my mind.

It was beginning to get hard for me to go up the stairs.  The dander was making it difficult to breathe if I hurried, and this would make me cough and sneeze a lot.  I kept asking how long before we would be on our way, and they couldn’t tell me.

Mde. Titron and her mother washed their clothes out in the street with the water from the fire hydrant.  We didn’t have any clothes but what we wore, so we had nothing to wash.

We looked forward to Christine, the young daughter coming home from school in the late afternoon.  She was always happy and quite evidently enjoying what her parents were doing.  I could talk to her a little, but the others could only smile at her.

We had been in this safe house for about a week when we began to wonder if we could get some way to take a bath.  We had no way of washing the clothes we wore as we couldn’t go without them in the house so why couldn’t we get a bath at least.  And, of course, I was the one who had to get this project going.  I didn’t know the word for bath, but between us, Mde. Titron finally found out what I was trying to say.  She was very agreeable.  Maybe, now that I think of it, most anxious to do this for us.  We probably were offensive to everyone but ourselves.  But I really wasn’t aware of anyone else in the house having a bath.  It was a big job and took lots of preparation.  In order to take a bath much work had to be done.  A huge metal bathing tub was brought into the kitchen from the outside.  The table was moved back and the tub put near the stove for the warmth.  Water had to be brought into the house in buckets from the fire hydrant.   We couldn’t go out so we couldn’t help them.  We couldn’t even stand in the door in case someone would see us, so the Triton’s made many trips.  Each bucket had to be warmed on the stove before being poured into the tub.  This took a long time doing so the water could be called not really cold when all was ready.  The family, really tired, sat down near the tub.  They needed the rest.  We sat there waiting, with my fellow airmen asking me to ask them to go away and let us bathe.  And they weren’t very nice about it.  They didn’t want to put on a show.  They made a lot of rude remarks about not wanting to strip in front of them.  I really think the Titrons felt very open about this and didn’t understand why we needed privacy and wondered at our modesty.

They left, and this was hard on them.  The kitchen was the only warm room and actually the room used for everything.  I think the family slept in this kitchen.

We were alone.  We drew lots to see in what order we would bathe.  I don’t remember what number I got in the draw to see who would use the water.  I know it was good to wash, but I had to hurry as it was cold.  We dressed in our same clothes, clothes I had now worn for over two weeks.

After the bath, of course, the tub had to be bailed out and removed from the house.  This was a job, and we didn’t ask for it again during our stay.  The bath had taken several hours.

Because I could understand fairly well what they said, I did get a chance to go out with members of the family a few nights for a walk.  They felt they could tell me when danger arose and I’d do what they told me to do.   This was pleasant.  I enjoyed the exercise and the change, even to get away from my fellow airmen.  The two fellows not of our crew often said rude and vulgar things about the family, these good people who were risking their lives and freedom for us.

We continued to have company.  They came to see us and as usual would shake hands and greet each person in the room and do the same when they left.  Most of these visitors spoke so rapidly I couldn’t understand a thing they said.  One couple who came to visit came to see me because I could speak a little French.  After the concentrated greeting of each and every one, they made a great effort to talk to me speaking very slowly and with Mde. Titron’s help gave me a name of someone they loved very dearly who was in England.  I was to contact them and to tell this much beloved person that they were all right and not to worry.  I can no longer remember the names, but I know I still am affected by their emotion and anxiety of getting a message to this person.  They couldn’t write it down nor could they give me their names in case I was caught.

©Joseph H. Harrison 1999