Hide Article Text (OCR)
French Truly Gladf o See AmericansEALLEROY, France, July 2-tf) ..A month ago only German army novies were shown In the heater adjoining the Balleroy own hall-wifl n0 i^nchman vorthy of the name would be *eenhere.But today * strange aaaemblage f JihakJ-clad aolditrs and viUager.in their Sabbath be«, •rowded into the tiny room to alien d a benefit concert for war vie.;lm*.Cnnonadinf only a *** miles iway shook the old grey stone Gliding but no lines of fear show--d in the face* of dignified grand-mother* in blacK or little girls In filmy pink who vied for the honor of sitting tn 3»P* of the gum and :andy-wealthy American soldiers.“Even though we are atill in reach of enemy artillery we are glad to show our appreciation for your coming by this concert,1 said Mayor Pierre Gauthier, 64, who served as a non-com at the start of the first World war and was a prisoner for four year* after his capture by the German* in 1914.“We have waited four years for you to arrive and we are very happy to have you here, he said.Front row honor seats were reserved for the Marquis de Ballertfi and his daughter whose cfcatea* overlooking the town was requisitioned by the Germans aa a xni.l-tary hospital.As French workmen and their wives wearing their threadbare best passed the ticket office and paid 40 francs—80 cents—for benefit tickets—and that's a sizeable chunk of their income—the village doctor Pierre Couedic. said the town had escaped being caught m the battle such as has almost lev-d some Normandy towns in re-^nt weeks.“Two bombs which shook ermns out of their headquarters n the outskirts of town cost five ivilian lives, he said, “and that •as ail our casualties except for ne hundred by a shell which truck in town. It was a mirac;? •e were spared.”Shooing small children about like hickens was the venerable village riest, Father Caillobotte, a leader -i organizing the concert. He rought his Sunday school class long to sing-When the concert began, more han 250 people—more than a ourth of the town’s population cere crowded into the room.And there on a tiny stage flanked ■v the Union Jack and the Ameri-an Flag, amid a hush broken only iv the rumble of guns and thp rack of shellbursts. the girls and •hildren of Balleroy SBng in honor ;f their friends and Allies--soldiers if Britain and America. They sang igfit songs of France, concert num-iers and* religious lyrics and no rroup of entertainers ever had a riorc enthusiastic audience than he American troops in the front rows.“This is a return concert for he recital Sgt. Leslie Burial, fo;* mer piano instructor at Mannos Ntusic school in New York Citv. ?avc for the townfolk last week. ■ ijiid Capt. Ralph W. Bell, Bedford, Dhic, former Cleveland attorney. ‘They wanted to show their appreciation and they really made a thing of It. Last month the Germans couldn’t get. Frenchmen mhere with a free show, and look at them tonight.”
Newspaper Details
Zanesville Times Recorder
Zanesville, Ohio, US
Mon, Jul 03, 1944
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 May 2020
Other Publications Near Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville Daily Courier
Zanesville News
Zanesville Courier
Zanesville Signal
Times Signal
