The Band of Brothers was started six years ago by Christelle Zuccolotto, a French English Professor for the 8^th grade, to make them aware of the contributions of the British, American, and Canadian soldiers during WWII.  Each year she selects up to five persons to be interviewed by the students.  By email and postal service she has her students ask questions in English.  The response is in English, which they then transcribe into French.  In addition she takes her class to Normandy for the Anniversary of D-Day celebration, thanks to donated funds.

In 2009 I participated as a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot of WWII).  Christelle took 45 students to the 65^th anniversary of D-Day at Omaha and Normandy beaches, and asked each student to write about the experience.  One student, Asma Donia Chahib, wrote an especially heart rendering essay (quoted below) which won second place. 

This was submitted to the National Prize of Citizenship and Memory contest, which had been organized by the Maginot Federation, the largest French veterans association.  Fifteen schools won a prize but several thousand schools presented texts.  Asma’s essay won second place.  She and Christelle were given transportation, food, and lodging to Paris for the formal awarding ceremonies to be held in the Paris City Hall in January 2010.

In addition, Christelle had a seven-day display in Sainte Foy la Grande, Gironde (southwestern France) in late July and early August, both in English and French with many pictures about each one of the persons involved in that year’s interviews.  Many dignitaries as well as the public are invited to view the well-constructed display.

A new correspondent, Col. Charles McGee, Tuskegee pilot of WWII, is currently corresponding with students for the year 2010 program.

This outstanding teacher, Christelle Zuccolotto, deserves our thanks for her recognition of the sacrifices made by so many in WWII.

--Bernice Falk Haydu

The landing in Normandy was the largest amphibious operation in history.  I knew nothing about this painful past before corresponding with veterans of the Second World War in English class.  The interviews we have conducted in addition to the discussions we have had with other veterans who came to visit us at school have enabled us to get answers that we would never have been able to have in the context of traditional history courses.  The Band of Brothers project has satisfied my natural curiosity while allowing me to meet a lot of people – each one fascinating in their own right.  To remain impassive in the face of veterans who landed on the beaches of Normandy is simply not possible.  These mourning orchards…  These cliffs struck by the English Channel…  These Canadian, British, or American flags flying in the windows of houses as tributes to liberators who came sixty-five years ago…  These Jeeps so proudly exhibited by their owners…   These will remain surprising sights to our eyes of young Girondins…  But the image that will be forever engraved in my memory is the one of these thousands of graves.

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The author, Asma Donia ChahibWhen I entered the Canadian cemetery of Beny-Reviers and discovered this immensity of aligned gravestones I was overwhelmed by a strong emotion.  Two thousand and forty-nine graves.  A few months before, it would have seemed inconceivable to me.  Once there, it was still hard for me to believe.  Each of these flowered graves represented a brave soldier, which filled me with sadness.  As I was walking ahead, my feelings intensified.  The most painful thing was to read the messages that adorned the headstones.  Messages from parents, brothers, or sisters.  These young men were only three or four years older than me when they arrived on our land.  They were just young adults.  They were still unaware of the horror of war.  In the distance, I could see a magnificent vista- the blue of Juno Beach.  This setting was so beautiful and so moving at the same time that it could only make me shiver.  Step by step, gently, with a lump in my throat, I was walking.  This silence, a silence that nothing could break, made me feel uncomfortable but it also made me realize what we owe to these young missing soldiers.  Each of them gave his life for us.  French citizens.  Every day, thanks to them, we can rejoice to live in a free country, far from any conflict.  That is why we must keep their memory alive.  How?  By listening to veterans.  By airing about what they lived on these beaches, so far from their home.  By honoring their courage and solidarity as we did during our trip.  Although no ceremony and no tribute text can be up to their actions, this is definitely how we can thank them.

Then, we were approached by the son of a World War Two veteran.  His father, Gerald Spencer, who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, was at his side.  He came to pray at the graves of his brothers-in-arms.  While leafing through a notebook, he listed the names of his lost comrades.  Some of them were childhood friends…  All were buried there, so far from home… None of us, young teenagers, could leave this old gentleman who was a part of our history.  We were all around him.  Curious and admiring, we listened to his memories.  In his eyes, we could see pride, but also painful memories, memories about which he gave us very few details.  Our teacher translated his words, sentence by sentence.  Touching poignant words which left us speechless.  Our only response was to smile and to give this man a few gestures of affection.

What I had dreaded before the trip occurred… I was inconsolable facing such a setting and such people.  I was captivated by their modesty and simplicity and felt boundless gratefulness for them.  Yes, at this moment, I had to hide my emotion behind my sunglasses, since that day, the sun was shining like in a summer afternoon. 

Even today, the emotions that arose in me during the visit of Beny-Reviers cemetery remain difficult to describe to my family.  Words fail me…  That day, I was torn between my joy to meet this veteran and an overwhelming sorrow.  I was deeply moved thinking about the grief so many families who were unknown to me but had given so much.

***

On the following day, June 6^th, 2009 we were among the very few to be invited by the U.S. Embassy to the official D-Day ceremony in the American sector.  We were excited..  Several heads of state would be present …  There, we discovered another immensity even vaster: Colleville-sur-Mer American cemetery and its nine thousand three hundred and eighty-seven graves, all facing West, facing the United states.  Nearby, below Omaha Beach, Bloody Omaha.  Here again, the silence.  Only the souls of these nine thousand three hundred eighty-seven sons, brothers, fiancés, husbands, friends, or mere neighbors seemed to want to be heard.  At our side, Anne Snyder.  She led us to the grave of her father, Harry Fred Snyder.  From him, she has one photograph, nothing more.  In the name of Anne, we read to this father the inconsolable grief of her daughter.  “You have not been there to share in my small triumphs and enclose me in your warm arms in my small defeats.  Still, it is the small things I have missed most.  I have never seen your face on a Christmas morning trying to look grateful at the gift of an awful tie and attempting to think how you could avoid wearing it.  You and I have never shared a Father's day of my burnt offering of pancakes and a homemade card.  I will never know if we share favorite colors or I you as I do can cry at a sad movie or laugh uproariously at small, silly things.”  Later, at a second grave, Robert Allen Lane’s, we read the words of another orphan, Sandra, his daughter: “Grave 41 in plot A salutes the remains of loving husband, a son, brother, friend, and our father.  From the English Channel, fresh sea breezes whisper serenely through the shade trees offering comforting breaths to me.  Alone, without crowds and large tourist groups.  I stare at daddy’s tomb through a stream of tears and accept that I will never hear my father’s voice.  The silence is stifling.”

Through my presence, surrounded by my friends, I was happy to show these absent fathers our respect but I was so moved I was also trembling with emotion.  In class, we had worked on the history of these fathers.  We had seen their pictures; we had seen them with children on their lap…  The silence of Anne, our orphan, said everything about her sufferings, those of Sandra and those of so many other children of that time…

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Paris City Hall, the Honor Reception Room, January 2010Many tears ran down during our trip.  Tears of sadness but also tears of joy.  Each of them had a reason.  The cemeteries, the ceremonies, the regimental bands, the museums, the meetings…  So many memories that are forever engraved in my memory and in my heart.  I wish this trip had never ended.  On the occasion of this 65^th anniversary of D-Day, how lucky we were to be able to celebrate freedom with those who offered it to us.  Never will I relive an experience so rich in emotions, discoveries, surprises, and smiles.  I also know that we are unfortunately among the last ones to have had this opportunity…

Since our return from Normandy, I have explained to my family the role of D-Day in the liberation of France.  I have explained how this massive operation took place and especially how these soldiers sacrificed themselves to free a country about which they knew very little or nothing….  I have told my family about their dedication to our freedom.

In a few years, I will go back to Normandy.  As a citizen, it is my duty to take my children there.  They too need to know….

Now I know what it means to live in a free country and I often think of those who, sometimes in the dark, freed us from tyranny.  This summer, we will share our discoveries and emotions through a bilingual exhibition.  By pursuing this work carried out throughout this school year, it is as if we did not put an end to this project that is dear to the heart of so many students.  It is as if these beautiful meetings we made were brought to life again here, in Gironde….

Mr. Dargois, French/American veteran who landed on Omaha Beach; Christelle Zuccolotto; Captain Carpenter, Naval Attache, U.S. Embassy; Asma Donia Chahib, prize winner, January 2010