French Underground
General Yeager’s Bronze Star Medal
General Yeager received a Bronze Star Medal with valor device (for carrying a wounded airman over the steepest part of the Pyrenees in 3 foot snow and saving his life in the Spring of 1944.) The Bronze Star Medal with the “V” device to denote heroism in combat is the fourth highest military decoration for valor.…
Read MoreEscaping the Gestapo – Climbing the Pyrenees Part 1
Chuck Yeager: Having been shot down March 5, 1944 and hidden for several weeks, we pick up the story at the foothills of the Pyrenees. We leave the house when night falls. After a few hours we arrive at what is basically a hut to spend the day resting and sleeping for the next day…
Read MoreMarch 1944 Escaped Nazis – Make it to Spain
I wake from a deep sleep to knocking on the door. I freeze. Where am I? It slowly comes back. It was not a dream- I should be in Spain. I made it over the Pyrenees without getting caught. Who is at the door, though? I cautiously move toward the door, scanning the room for…
Read MoreMarch 1944 Escaping Germans – a farmhouse in Spain
General Chuck Yeager: Having been shot down March 5, 1944 and hidden with the French underground, I was now carrying a fellow airman over the Pyrenees, the story picks up in Spain, not out of the woods yet. After catnapping, I dragged and carried the airman for what seemed like hours. We were starving. We…
Read MoreMarch 1944 – Escaping the Germans – Pyrenees – Slow Going
Exhausted from climbing for 2 days and a night in three foot thick snow, close in trees, not much to eat, we fell asleep in a hut we came upon. It seemed like minutes later when we heard gunfire. The Germans had spotted the other guys socks he had hung out to dry. Shoot, then…
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