SYNOPSIS

Members of crew

Alden Faudie's E&E report is very brief:

"I was shot down near Epernay on 14 October 1943. I hid until dark and then began walking south. The next morning I hid in a barn, was found by a French farmer, who put me in touch with the organisation. I was taken to Épernay and from here sent to the Brest peninsula to get a British boat that never came so we came back. In December I was in Reims waiting for an aeroplane that never came. I finally ended up in Commenchon, Aisne where I was liberated on 2 September 1944."

Note, the helper from the "organisation" was Pierre Servacnat, 73 rue de Champagne, Épernay.

"Under cover in France 1943-1944" by John Hartley Watlington (pps 180-184)

John Watlington had just arrived at Quimper, by train from Paris, on 30th October 1943. Alden Faudie was one of the American airmen in the truck:

"... Climbing in I found several men who appeared as very-much-off-the-farm type and I supposed that they were Maquis boys. When the truck was full, we drove off and I soon discovered to my joy that my companions were American and English airmen. They were the first I had seen since being shot down.

We were taken to a large house adjoining a canning factory on the outskirts of Quimper where about eleven of us were put in a second storey apartment which was rather too small for our party of twelve. They gave us plenty of blankets and mattresses and we stayed there six days. We had to be extremely quiet for it was dangerous to talk in a normal voice or even to walkabout, as the factory was under continual guard by the Wehrmacht, we could hear. the guard's movements at night. However, when the machinery was in operation we were relieved of this restriction because the noise drowned out voices and sounds of movement. Part of our meals were prepared by the people next door, the rest we got for ourselves from supplies which were regularly given us. They were also very kind in providing us with as much wine as they could spare and occasionally cigarettes. One of the American boys had received very severe wounds before being shot down. He had been rear-gunner in a Fortress [Richard Mungenast] and had been hit with shrapnel from a rocket-firing aircraft. A doctor visited this chap at least once a day to dress his wounds.

When we arrived at this hideout we were told that the Organization had been in contact with the British by radio and that it was arranged for a high speed launch to rendezvous at.a point on the coast to which we were to be taken.. This was the period between moons which was ideal for 'operations' of this type, and the attempt had to be made before the night of November 5th, that being the date of the new moon. We thought everything was going along smoothly until the Chief came to us about the 4th and said he had just received a message instructing him that there had been an accident, that the boat was not coming and he was to disperse us inland, as the coastal area was heavily guarded by German troops. This was extremely disappointing, especially to us who were so close to being freed.

On the night of November 4th we were taken by trucks in parties of five or six to the railway station. As I remember our party arrived first and we wandered about the station waiting for the 7.10 train. ... Our railway tickets for Paris had all been purchased during the day and given to us before we reached the station, thus making it less dangerous than a member of the French organization distributing them to a large party in public.

We twelve, making up one of the parties on that train, travelled together second class and reached Paris about 7.30 next morning. Our coach was crowded I having to stand for most of the trip in a very cold corridor. On arriving five of us were taken off together by some of the Organization to a café for a cup of coffee and there we ate some of the food we carried. They told us that we were to catch a train leaving at 11 o'clock that morning for Epernay, east of Paris in the Marne. It was over this town that three of our party had been shot down on October 14th in U.S. Flying Fortresses. These boys were part of a crew of ten who were on the memorable bombing raid against the ball-bearing plants of Schweinfurt in which sixty American aircraft had been lost. They had been flying at 20,000 feet, had lost their fighter rendezvous and were unprotected from attacks of German aircraft and ground defences. The pilot [Roy Davidson] told me that five German fighters picked on his aircraft after having damaged it a bit and thus making it fall out of formation with the other 'Forts' and away from its best protection. During the attack his two waist gunners, not waiting for orders, had bailed out over Germany [Breuer and Chichester remembered it as the radio operator (Louis Koth) and a waist gunner (Arthur Howell or Claude Page)]; the others continued to fly the aircraft down to the ground all the while trying to avoid further attack, without much success. The Germans followed them all the way down, attacking continually. The pilot decided to crash-land his craft in a field and in doing so, he landed at the high speed of about 170 miles an hour, killing two cows and finishing his run at the edge of a forest. During the landing the bombardier broke his leg and consequently was captured [It was in fact Carl Gibson the ball turret gunner. The bombardier was Charles Breuer, who got back to England via Lysander on 17 November 1943]. My new friend, Alden J. Faudie, from Pennsylvania, the navigator, gave the bombardier a shot of morphia and left him as he couldn't walk. The rest of the crew, now reduced to seven, went off in various directions. One of these had been seriously injured by flak of whom I mentioned before while we were at Quimper. This lad did not return with us to Paris but stayed at Quimper where he was receiving excellent medical care. I thought, if he ever got home, he would have to have skin grafted because his wound looked like great, chunks of flesh torn from his arm and side. "Fon-Fon" [Fanfan -Yves Le Hénaff] the Chief at Quimper, who was going to England to organize a boat for the next moonless period, decided to take this airman along with him. He told us he would go by an aircraft which carried only three persons.

When we arrived at Epernay our party of five was taken to a house where we received the usual excellent French hospitality (we were in Champagne region now) with our host and hostess who were both school teachers. Our group was then split into three parties and my friend Al Faudie, and I were sent to the village of Athis between Epernay and Chalons-sur-Marne. As "Fon-Fon," the Chief, had told us that he expected to have a boat operating within a month, we hoped before very long to go back to Quimper. ...

... the Germans arrested several members of the organization in Epernay and as our host was one of the active members it was decided to send us to a less conspicuous family. ... Al was sent on to Chalons-sur-Marne for a week. ...

About December 8th I was taken to Chalons-sur-Marne, where I rejoined Al preparatory to being passed on to another organization at Rheims. At Rheims they couldn't give us any information about the organization on the coast because the activities of the Gestapo had disrupted communications. Leaving Chalons-sur-Marne that afternoon we were driven to the village of Auberive by an insurance man; he took us to the house of Monsieur George Lundy where we remained two days and then journeyed by horse and cart into Rheims. Monsieur Lundy had a very good supply of champagne of which we often partook!

I shall always remember that cart. It was a milk cart with a canvas covered top which M. Lundy drove into Rheims every Saturday to make his deliveries. It was early morning and the road was covered by a thin laver of snow and was very slippery. As I recall, M. Lundy never touched the reins all the way to town as the horse had made the trip so often he knew exactly where to go. After he had made his deliveries, M. Lundy had great difficulty in coaxing the horse around to the address where we were to stay.

Our host at Rheims was a bachelor whom we knew as "Dicky" and he stuttered. Al and I were very comfortable there but were absolutely confined in his apartment which was on the fourth floor of an apartment house. We stayed there a week and during that time had a visit from the Chief of the district, a French-Canadian [Conrad Lafleur, Possum's R/T operator]. He would say nothing more than that about himself but told us that the first week in January we would be taken to a small town to the west where an aeroplane would meet us; another 'likely' story, I thought to myself but we were to be convinced as later on, knowing that Al had been shot down in the vicinity, he had volunteered a number of names of U.S. airmen whom he had returned by this method and two of them were some of Al's crew [Stanley Chichester and Charles Breuer]. We were both fairly confident of getting away this time. At the end of our week with Dicky a young lady came to take us to another hiding in Rheims; we walked with her and found ourselves at the home of a butcher [Marcel Tavernier] with whom two American gunners were living [probably Robert Henry & Tollie Berry. Henry was a tail-gunner]. During the next week these people entertained us a lot and we also stayed a few nights at two other places. On Christmas Eve the Americans and ourselves went with the butcher to one of his friends where a little Christmas celebration started, we talked and drank champagne most of the night. Early Christmas morning, not entirely sober, we went home with the butcher and slept until noon. Then he brought us enough champagne to drink for the rest of the day which resulted in us having a very happy Christmas.

Next day, Boxing Day, we were informed that we would have to leave the town as the Gestapo had made several arrests in the Organization at Rheims. We were told to prepare to leave early that afternoon, that a girl [Raymonde Beuré] would be calling for us who would escort us to Amiens in the Somme. Immediately after lunch we were taken to the railway station where we found that the train would not leave for another two hours. ... That afternoon we took the train for Ternier in northern France where we had to change for Amiens. We were late in arriving at Ternier, kissed our connection and had to stay there all night. We walked about the town debating whether to stay in the waiting room or go to an hotel. We decided on the waiting room as it seemed less dangerous. The waiting room was in complete darkness and we rested but did not sleep.

Early next morning, December 27th, we caught the train for Amiens and arrived just before lunch. Our escort immediately telephoned a Dr. Beaumont [Robert Beaumont - head of Possum's Amiens sector] living at Warloy [Warloy-Baillon], a small village fifteen kilometres north of Amiens who said he would be down to meet us as soon as possible in his car. Then we went into a small restaurant and had a surprisingly good meal. We relaxed quite a bit and talked amongst ourselves in English. Shortly after we entered the restaurant a couple came in dressed in civilian clothes. we didn't notice them at first but one of the boys soon detected that they were Germans and I then noticed that when the man pulled out his wallet, metal implements such as are worn on German uniforms were pinned on the outside. We listened carefully and heard them speaking German. After that we conducted ourselves successfully, finished our meal silently and then, without arousing suspicion, left the restaurant. Right after that Dr. Beaumont arrived to take us out of town, so we said good-bye to our young lady friend and went off with him.

The doctor drove us to the house of a blacksmith at Toutencourt, a small village near Warloy, and then Al and I were taken to the baker's house where we stayed until about the 21st January. The other two boys stayed at another house, and several days later moved to a farmhouse. Al and I had to be very careful at the baker's home because of his shop adjoining which the townspeople frequented for their bread rations. After dark we often went walking and sometimes visited the other American boys to pass the time. The baker, M. Louis Delaporte, had a radio and we listened to the B.B.C. every evening. I often slept fourteen to sixteen hours a day while we were there which also helped to pass the time. M. Delaporte found several English books which we read eagerly but they were soon exhausted. One day Al and I visited a soldiers' cemetery, of the first World War, which was just outside the village. Then one night Al and I set out by arrangement and walked to Contay, a village about 4 kilms. distant and nearer to Warloy. There we stayed with a farmer who had been awarded the Croix de Guerre in the previous war. We were, as usual, very well looked after here.

After awhile we were told that Dr. Beaumont was unable to help us, and that neither he nor the French Canadian Chief who had been also chased out of Rheims and. was staying with the doctor, were in any position to help us. So I began to plan to make my way back to Paris and ... some days later, January 27th, I said goodbye to Al who had decided to stay ..."

Faudie moved on to stay with Georges Briet, also of Contay, where he stayed for some time in February / March 1944. According to Mme. Delacroix, Michèle Magniez then took Faudie to Amiens, but Dhaille states that a M. Hurtel of Toutencourt (~5 kms N. of Contay) sheltered him.

Virgil Marco writes:

".... [Alden Faudie] was found by Mr. Crusson of Beaugies-sous-Bois and placed in the home of Lucien Desmet in Cousey-de-Chateau from the 26th of April until the 6th of June. On D-Day he was moved to the home of Mr. Gregoire where he stayed until the 27th of June. On that date he was moved to the home of Mr. Fouque in Commenchon where he stayed until liberation. ...."