A Farmer’s Kindness

I saw a kind of skimpy looking little woods in the distance so I headed for it. Got in this little woods as I said, it was not dense at all, but there were two young boys there, I’d say they were about eight or nine years old and I told them I was with the RAF, didn’t mean anything, RCAF didn’t mean anything then I told them I wanted a drink in my best French, I asked for “l’eau” and in my best French “du lait” for water and milk and they didn’t understand it. So, I took a little branch, I picked a branch up and in the dusty ground, I put the letters R A F and right away, they said something like “Aviator? ” and I said, “Yes.” And so they, through just signs and that, they said they were going away to get somebody. So off they went and I waited there and I take it it was their uncle or father or someone. He came back and when he came back, he brought a. oh, what do you call it, like a farmer’s working outfit, you know, it fits over the whole body and it’s all buttoned up, right to the chin, right down to the feet, I can’t think...Interviewer: CoverallsCoveralls that’s it, coveralls. And he brought them and told me to put them on and I went, I don’t remember but they must have fed me. Like, when you go through these traumatic experiences, sometimes there’s glitches in your memory. And I think it was the next day, or might have been the same day, they brought two fellas to interview me. One chap spoke a bit of English and he sort of interrogated me, wanted to know my squadron, who my crew were, what were their names and quite a few questions, eh. None of them ever told your name, maybe a first name only, and they wouldn’t tell you address or where you were. So, if you were caught, like if I was caught, I couldn’t spill the beans on them because I didn’t, all I knew was this name was Jacques and that was Pierre or I didn’t know what town it was or anything else. And it was for their own safety and my safety, I guess. Like, if I was caught, I might have been shot but most likely, I would’ve ended up being a prisoner of war.