French Underground – Page 3 – The Chuck Yeager Foundation

March 12-13, 1944.Hiding from Germans.Have to leave

By Victoria Yeager / March 14, 2014

March 12, 1944. More fishing, playing soccer, hiking in the woods. This is the area of foie gras but even geese are a bit scarce. Also special Bordeaux wines – also scarce. The Germans have taken almost everything that the farmers haven’t hidden. March 13. They tell me to get some rest. I’m leaving tonight.…

March 11, 1944: WWII. Hiding from Gestapo

By Victoria Yeager / March 11, 2014

March 11, 1944: The father had come and gotten us before dark yesterday. We were fairly safe in the woods – the Germans are a bit scared they might get ambushed. I’m getting a little antsy. Will I spend the rest of the war here? Was it still going on? What was happening? My wounds…

March 10, 1944 WWII. Yeager Still in Hiding from Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 10, 2014

March 10, 1944. Jean comes running back. He had been in hiding but fairly close to the road. A few Germans had driven past maybe to the site where the German pilot or his plane had come down. Rumors are swirling that some French sympathetic to the Germans have turned in (and on) some neighbors…

March 9, 1944 WWII Hiding from the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 9, 2014

Jean and I go to the bigger lake to fish. He, as alert as I am and wise beyond his years, shows me the hidden way. Hanging out with Jean, I learn a little French. It’s a long way. We bring back some fish for le dejeuner (lunch). The young mother makes a shirt for…

March 8, 1944. WWII. On the Run from the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 8, 2014

General Yeager’s words: March 8, 1944. Six year old Jean and I played soccer. Then he took me to a little lake where we fished. I’m alert. The Germans are still on the prowl looking for me. I learn that the plane of the Germans who shot me down came down in a field just…

March 7, 1944. WWII.Escaping the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 7, 2014

March 7, 1944 evening General Yeager’s words: I’m in hiding during the day in the basement of the house in Casteljaloux. You have to go to the back of the house to get in. Not comfortable in the middle of town. Rumors are neighbors have turned in neighbors in this town. Wonder what they would…

March 6, 1944.Evening.WWII. Evading the Germans

By Victoria Yeager / March 7, 2014

March 6, 1944 evening: dark We ride off on bicycles: make it as far as Castaljaloux where they put me in the back of a house for the rest of the night and the next day. It’s right in the middle of town. Neighbors are pretty close. The Germans are still looking for me but have…

WWII.Mar 6, 1944: Behind Enemy Lines:Germans Everywhere Looking for Yeager

By Victoria Yeager / March 5, 2014

March 6, 1944: Behind Enemy Lines:Germans Everywhere Looking for Me: In the morning, I hear a rhythmic banging. I crawl to where I could see – it is a woodsman chopping wood. We were told, if we’re shot down or behind enemy lines, to approach poor people – they would be the most likely to…

In Search of Chuck Yeager’s Evading Germans 1944

By Victoria Yeager / April 22, 2013

I had wanted to explore with CY the places where CY had been shot down and was working with the Maquis, escaping into Spain. Finding specific spots was an adventure. Not many who were involved in 1944 were still around, kids didn’t get the history from their parents, many would-be not so good historians who…

From Chuck Yeager: Working with the Maquis (Shot Down in France Part II)

By Victoria Yeager / March 23, 2013

March 20 ’44 Spend most the day working on Gabriel’s old engine in the shed. Gabriel is happy I’ve got something to keep me busy. He thinks it will keep me busy the rest of the war – that it will never work. March 20-21, ’44.Night: Gabriel knows I’m itching to do something in war.…

Gabriel – head of the Neracais French Maquis

By Victoria Yeager / March 19, 2013

Gabriel was larger than life. Gabriel LaPeyrusse, Mayor of Nerac, head of the Maquis during World War II, was one of many who protected and saved my husband during World War II. General Yeager and I visited his house recently. It’s a pretty and historic house with a large yard. The fields behind it used…

March 8, 1944

By Victoria Yeager / March 6, 2013

At night, a couple of men take me to a farm where I spend a week with a young couple with a young son. It’s off the beaten path. The house is beyond some tall hedges and fairly far in from the road. I spend a lot of time playing soccer with their young son.…