Lost In a French Village 1962

The opportunity to get my mom to tell me stories is dimming. I took her to a doctor's appointment this week and asked her about a photo she had sent me earlier. 

Two things you have to know about her is that 1) she's the best genealogtist you'll ever meet; and 2) She is now like a mad scientist with ChatGPTs image AI. 

The photo she sent was this one. It's of my dad and Gerald Getty, one half of the Getty twins. My dad went to school with them and they went through print production classes together in high school East High in the 1950s. Harold, the other half of the Getty Twins, was in the Air Force in England at the same time Gerald and Larry were in the Army in Germany. This would be the 1961-1962 period. Harold had met a beautiful English Rose and the wedding was set. The Army boys got their pass, their wives, and Gerald's car and that's where our story begins.

Mom and Dad would have been 19 and 23, so Gerald and Betty were about the same age. Gerald was driving his little junker car and off they went. They had to drive to Calais, France to cross by ferry into England. That went well. They got all the way to Carol’s parents’ house unscathed. 

Mom and Dad spent the night in their guest room while Gerald and Betty stayed at a relatives’ house nearby. 

Everyone was excited, until….the company commander refused his permission for them to marry so the wedding had to be called off. 

So, back they started for Germany. They made it a ways before the car conked out. This was in a rural spot near a super tiny French village. It was nighttime. Unlike now, when they could have found a pension or an AirBNB, they found nothing in the village. No car repair, no restaurant, and no place to stay. 

They knocked on doors until someone agreed, via the quartet’s awful French and the even worse English skills of the villagers, a place for each of them to stay. The bed that was provided to my folks collapsed in the middle. It was a sleepless night. 

In addition to all sleeping situation, they hadn’t eaten since morning and they had about 50 cents between them. The family gave them leftover cake and water to drink. 

In the morning, they met up and were told they needed to talk to the one person in the village who spoke really good English. Mom referred to her as Bridget Bardot--I believe she was, well, va-voom. 

They found Bridget Bardot and while she had some English skills she was far from fluent. Suddenly, various villagers wandered in to “help” Bridget Bardot in translating. Frustrating and comical as it was, they finally arranged to have the car picked up for repair and were dropped at a train station in a nearby village. 

They would pick up the car the following week. In those days, you didn’t just get a pass or leave whenever you wanted, it had to be planned and approved and could be canceled at a moment’s notice based on mission needs. I never did hear if he got his car back. 

At the train station, they realized they did not have the money to get to Paris where they could get transportation to Germany. With help from the train people, they contacted the US Consulate in France and they wired enough money for tickets to Paris. 

When they arrived, they had no money to get to Germany, so they took their 50 cent and bought a 10-cent bottle of wine and spent the rest on a loaf of bread to split between the four of them. 

The wine was awful, my mom reported, but it was the best bread they ever had. 

I’m not sure who helped the group get home; I believe it was the USO, but they were funded enough to get four train tickets to Germany. 

This is a photo of Larry and Gerald standing in the middle of the street with their giant suitcases in that little French village where Bridge Bardot lives. I wonder if her English ever improved?

Leland Barr and World War II

SMITH, Jacob > SMITH, William Custer > SMITH, Edwin > Smith, Vivan and Leland Barr

Leland Barr was the husband of my great aunt Vivian. I had warm feelings for her. She and Leland never had any kids, but Vivian was very fond of all of  us as well. He was born in 02 Nov 1906 in Shell Rock, Iowa. 

Vivian visit Leland before he left
for Europe

Uncle Leland was very quiet. Didn't see him smile a lot and can't recall anytime where he was laughing and joking, but he was a nice enough guy. He served in World War 2 and his service record isn't entirely clear, but this is from an earlier post:

Vivian met a young man from Shell Rock, Leland Barr, son of  William Barr and Marie Hufstader. In 1938, they married and she and Leland set up housekeeping in Plainfield. He made his living doing day labor. In April 1943, they moved to Waterloo where he had secured employment with Rath Packing Company, a major employer with good pay and benefits. Then, in August, Leland was drafted. He was and sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for basic and advanced training in October.

After a 10-day furlough, he was sent to England and spent the next two years attached to the 49th Combat Engineers serving in England, France, and Belgium. While overseas, he fell into a mine shaft and was seriously injured; his legs were never the same. After the war, he was discharged as a private in December, 1945, returning to Waterloo and started work at Hartman Locker. He was rehired by Rath in early 1947, and according to Evelyn’s daughter Cheryl, he had a job  operating the large swing doors in the plant which wouldn’t tax him too much due to his war injuries. He remained with Rath until retirement.

The other day, I spoke with my cousin Tony, who had found a box of Vivian's things that had been in the care of my Uncle Harold who recently passed away. Yesterday, I went through the box and found a minor treasure of things from Uncle Leland's service.

Good Conduct Medal, WWII

These are not all identified, but the one on the bar is the Victory Medal and the one on the right is a campaign medal (which I believe is not identical, but similar to the one on top with three clusters. The one on the bottom looks like the Bronze Star ribbon, but there is absolutely no indication Leland received such an award.

This photo includes his death certificate. He was hospitalized and died on one of my leaves and I attended his funeral in 1979. He is buried in Waterloo, Iowa. There is a certificate of service which he had framed, his death certificate, a letter from the War Department regarding his service, a copy of his basic training book from Ft Leonard Wood, MO (where I would attend basic training 35 years later), and finally, a Nazi Iron Cross - source unknown.

The Iron Cross was worn by Nazi soldiers during WWII
There is a swastika and "1939" raised on the cross.

I'm left with more questions. Why does he have a bronze star ribbon? How did he get the Iron Cross? What were his experiences in Europe? There is no one left to ask.