Victoria Scott D’Angelo
March 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 26, 1944: Pyrenees Foothills: AVOID border Spanish-might sell us to Gestapo
The moment I hop in the back, the truck takes off. There are four or five other guys seated on the benches, and nobody says a word. mainly because they are too busy hanging on while the driver barrels down twisting backstreets, doing fifty or better. I hear the guy seated next to me mutter,…
Read MoreMarch 20-21, 1944: Evading Germans & Recon planes
Most of the time I have no idea where we are. We are constantly on the move, making camp twice a day to eat and sleep never staying anywhere more than a few hours at a time. The Germans are always hunting for us, their Fiesler Storches skinning in low over the forest while we…
Read MoreMarch 18-19, 1944. WWII.In the Woods with the Maquis
March 18-19, 2014 We bike ride back to Nerac in record time and sack out in the shed at Gabriel’s. At night, Raoul leaves. Gabriel takes me out in the forest. Uh oh. We hike for hours. I’m on guard. Where is he taking me? Why? I try not to think about how freezing cold…
Read MoreMarch 17-19, 1944: WWII. Blowing up Bridges.
March 17, ’44: Gabriel sends me with Raoul by bicycle up to Gabriel’s family home. I don’t know anything except I’m to go with Raoul. Hope I can trust him. We get to Gabriel’s parents’ house in about 3 hours. My legs are a bit stiff but I don’t have an alternative or a car.…
Read MoreMarch 16-17, 1944:WWII. Close call-Germans Walk Right in Front of Me
March 16, ’44: The girl leaves. No chance. But really too dangerous – don’t ever know who is on what side. March 17, 1944: Not much to do so I venture a little closer to the road – watch the passersby from under the shade of the tree, think about my next move. How am…
Read MoreMarch 14-15. Bicycle 2 nights to Nerac. One Step Ahead of the Germans
March 14, 1944 late, early March 15, 1944: Dr. Henri comes to pick me up at the farm. He’s a welcome face. Dr. Henri was one of the first people I met right after I bailed out of my plane. He had doctored my wounds. He speaks English pretty well. He’s Jewish so everyone drops…
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