Day 06 – Wednesday 1^st June

Chasing John Harder

Today would have a focus on tracing John Harder’s return visit to Normandy in the 1970s. On his return he was presented with a medallion by the mayor of Évron This is the main town nearest to where he parachuted into Normandy from his stricken Spitfire. We had previously found some information about this visit, but this was an opportunity to dig a little deeper

A sad start

We woke to drizzle – at least better than yesterday’s heavy rain & high wind. Then over breakfast, we received the very sad news from Patrick that his wife had passed away earlier this year following a short illness with cancer. This really put a “downer” on the start of the day as Annick was a really lovely lady, & like myself, a fan of a good cup of tea!

Having passed on our condolences to Patrick, we set off further south to Évron through what became an increasingly misty day.

Stopover in Alençon

Our first stop was Alençon as it is mentioned in Elledge‘s manuscript. It was one of the towns that he, Sheppard, Gillespie, Willen & Harder were moved to after leaving the Shed. Unfortunately, there’s not really enough detailed description in the Manuscript to fully identify the location of the “Barracks” where they end up. I guess that’s something for next year – as well as identifying the towns that they stay at en-route.

Walking around Alençon, we stopped for lunch at a really traditional bar/restaurant. It looked as though it had stayed behind in history, but the beer & food was good. It was also unusual in that it boasted a wide range of teas to drink, rather than just coffee.In fact as we walked round town, we noticed a few more “Tea Houses”.

We then came across the statue of General Leclerc who led the 2^nd French Armoured Division through its battles in Normandy. The siting of his statue in Alençon is particularly appropriate – it being the first French town liberated by purely French forces.

Chasing down John Harder

Our next stop (and our overnight stay) was the town of Évron.  In particular, the Mairie (or Mayor’s & Council offices). I wanted to see whether we could unearth any information with regard to John Harder’s return visit to the town. On that occasion he met some of the people that had helped him back in 1944. In particular Mr Le Blanc who was the first to help him after he baled out of his Spitfire.

After some brief introductions & a bit of searching, we were introduced to Élisabeth DUPLEIX. She was the relatively recently appointed town Archivist. She was really interested in the story of John Harder & the other “Men in the Shed”. We explained the tale, which was completely new to her. A major part of her job at present was to go through & sort the archives. She said she would keep a good look out for anything to do with Harder. Also it was confirmed, that they would be happy to add anything that I could supply to their archive. So that’s another follow-up job to do!

St Suzanne

So, happy that we’d made some progress (though perhaps only a single footstep), we set off to the village of St Suzanne around 5 miles further south. Glyn had said that he’d like to visit it as it was described as a medieval town – a break from WW2.

So, off we go. Upon parking up in the centre of the village, in addition to some large “castle walls”, we saw the War memorial which featured two Schneider 105mm guns. You’ve guessed it – from the Second World War!

 

 

 

So much for old history!!

But we then walked around the old part of town with its narrow cobbled roads & high walls. In the square we stopped for a short break & a beer… nothing unusual there, then! However, there was a nice surprise waiting for us. They served bottle conditioned beer (so “real” as far as we were concerned) produced by a small brewery in town!

Our second unexpected brewery of the trip!

Unfortunately, the brewery was shut during our visit – but I suspect that we will return!

We then headed back towards Évron, via the Dolmen des Erves – one of Glyn’s other ancient interests – old standing stones. It has to be said that this one was a little more impressive than some that we’d seen!

On returning to the hotel I checked my emails before heading out for some food. I noticed that I’d already received an email from Élisabeth DUPLEIX. It informed me that she’d found an entry in the Livre d’Or (the town’s official visitors’ book). It was from John Harder’s 1972 visit! This was a fantastic result.

So, a walk around town for a beer & pizza (reminding ourselves that we were in France, not Italy!).  Then bed to be ready for another, hopefully equally fruitful day.