On May 5, 1945Robert Lion received orders to report to the French Air Force headquarters on May 9 to begin training as a translator. Lion had been born on Metz, on the French-German border was was fluent in German.
But, trains were not then running in Germany so he stuffed a dagger of the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) in his backpack and hitched a ride to Paris. (He said he used that dagger for many years as a letter opener.) He arrived in Paris on May 8, just in time to join the huge crowds in their revelries.
"But our festive mood got spoiled," he said. "We had parked our jeep in front of the 1st French Army EM Club for dinner. When we came out, there was no more jeep. My friend had forgotten to remove the distributor cap from the engine -- a routine anti-theft procedure."
His buddy had to go back and report the heist to his superiors. In the meantime, Lion continued to party until time to report to his translation course.
Happy Days. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
No comments:
Post a Comment