D-Day and Battle of Normandy
CIVIL TESTIMONIAL
They were child, adult, parent, pastor, farm worker … They experienced the descent of parachutists on the marshes of Carentan. They attended the fighting. They suffered. They suffered in their bodies or in their heart. They will never forget and they tell you here …
It was not always easy to collect evidence of the tragedy of 1944 due to the disappearance of a large number of civilian and military witnesses. We wish to thank everyone who agreed to testify despite the suffering and wounds that have not been erased from their memory, who have shown us their personal archives and opened their hearts.
* These excerpts and photographs are the exclusive property of Mr Franck Feuardent. No use or publication is possible without permission of Mr F. Feuardent
Auguste Bucaille Couple
M.r and Mrs Bucaille had completely lost track of time during the terrible Bloody Gulch battle in June 1944. Also they could not remember specific days of fighting, from the fact of being in June 1944. They had noticed US paratroopers hiding … Read More
Chappey couple
They saw the paratroopers the first time Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Mrs. brought them milk and butter. They asked the road to St. Como. They stayed until June 12, 1944 in the fields goshawks. From June 12 the artillery fire and extended and an American shell fell near the house … Read more
Abbot Lecointe
Father Ernest Lecointe (1888-1963) was a respected personality in all Méautis éclatta when the war in 1939. Passionate about culture, inventions and devoted to his worship he kept a daily journal he stopped to fill up ‘mort.Il its never spared its efforts to help those in need. Read more
Lemelletier couple
A group of American paratroopers was spotted June 6, 1944 in the morning, along the railway passing so close to the manor Lude. The family of leaving the farm Artilly because the Germans occupied the property places that US paratroopers are hidden only a few meters from the house … Read more
Mrs Maloisel
In June 1940 I was employed at Real Leforestier farm of large Barhais the hamlet of Donville in Méautis, within 100 meters of the chapel of Donville. My boss had been mobilized to go to war. We were with his wife and children when a shell fell nearby farm … Read more
Léon Lehay
June 06, 1944. American paratroopers came down behind the house. On the morning of June 6 to 8 hours I was with a teacher and some friends of my age to get our mare when we discovered a container with a parachute that fell in our field … Read More
Jack Lemelletier
On the night of June 5 to 6, 1944 we heard loud explosions in the sky. The next morning my father discovered seven paratroopers who were hiding nearby farm Lude, along the railway. He advised them to keep the farm away but they did not follow his advice … Read More
Louis Senoville
I worked in my parents’ farm, at a place called Cross capped and which now bears the name of the cross Méautis. The Germans did not occupy our farm but they came to ask supplies during the occupation. In 1943 I had to report to the STO. I refused to go … Read more
Yvette Tesson
Around June 13 when there was the Battle of Donville my parents, like many others had dug a shelter in the field in front of the house in a former dry pond. We were refugees in the shelter and the shells were falling from all sides when a shell fell on our house without destroying it. Read more
Raoul Lepleux
We saw civilians “take the direction of the country” because there was already serious injuries and deaths. My boss asked me to leave because we could not make bread and it was becoming dangerous. So I took my bike to return to Méautis my parents who were themselves bakers. Read more
Marie Saint
I first saw the Germans in June 1940 pass along our coffee on the main road from Carentan to Périers. I can still see with their sidecars and their gray-green uniforms. Some were officers. What impressed me are their leather boots because few people were in the area, except those who were horses … Read more
André de Pierrepont
We stayed until June 15, 1944 during the Battle of Carentan Donville then we saw happen in the first place German paratroopers came initially monitor those who planted the “asparagus” Rommel in marshes and on Friday June 9 Mongol soldiers and finally the SS … Read more
Bernardette Robert
My memories take shape in 1944. I remember that there was an excitement at home. And actually the paratroopers had landed that day. We looked through the windows and we saw all these red and green cloth in the trees. We thought it was the sheets because we had never seen parachutes of our lives. Read more
Understand, learn, discover … this is what offers Franck Feuardent current owner of the Manor and Bloody Gulch Memorial Museum. During tours, you will share with him in the Battle of Normandy, Bloody Gulch, landing. He will talk about his testimonies he gathered from those who have made history in the aera of Méautis and Carentan.