SYNOPSIS

	Fred Murray at the Georgeton's home October 1943 (Photo courtesy of Thierry Georgeton)
27 Sep1943	Baled out & landed near Lalandelle (20 kms SW of Beauvais).
29 Sep1943	Walked 4-5 miles to Labosse with a man named King (English father). Spent night at home of Mme Poste.
30 Sep1943	By bus, with Mme Poste, to Marines (50kms NW of Paris). Met by M. Helliron(?), a baker. Taken by train to Paris. Stayed with Gustave Banchorel, 69 rue de la Chapelle, Paris, 18 until ....
3 Oct 1943	Edgard Potier took him to the home of Suzanne Bastin near Sacre Coeur de Montmartre. Met John Desrochers, Ellis Klein (USAAF) & Val ohnson (RAF). Visited by Irish woman, Kate, not part of organisation. Stayed until ....
8 Oct 1943	Went with Potier to a farm to await pickup, but it was too misty for operation. Stayed with Lucien (Lucienne Mulette?) in a nearby village (Fismes?) until ....
11 Oct 1943	Returned to Suzanne Bastin, in Paris for one night. Met three Englishmen and one American - names not known.
12 Oct 1943	Went with Val Johnson (RAF) to Sillery SE of Rheims. Stayed with Mlle Raymonde Beuré in cabin in the woods. Leonard Marsh & Harold Clarke (RAF) were also there.
~13/15 Oct 1943	Germans started searching woods for draft dodgers, so moved to the home of the Georgeton's in Sillery. Met Roger Mangenot (station master at Sillery) & Conrad Lafleur. Stayed until ...
~17/21 Oct 1943	Georgeton drove them to Mailly-Champagne, to the home of Lea Chandelot. Stayed until ...
~9/13 Nov 1943	Remy Chandelot took them to Reims in his horse and cart, then by train with Raymonde Beuré to Lucienne Mulette in Fismes. Stayed until ...
15 Nov 1943	Raymonde Beuré took them to Paris. Met the man who had started this organization, although he is not the chief; tall and skinny with graying hair (Raymond Gallet?). Spent night at Suzanne Bastin's.
16 Nov 1943	Train to Chauny & then taken by truck to a small house in the country. Met Georges d'Oultrement (MI9 agent), Charles Breuer and Stanley Chichester (USAAF).
17 Nov 1943	Aircraft pickup took place at ~ 02:00 (operation MAGDALEN II). Landed at RAF Tangmere ~03:30; met by Major Langley.

[Note: this report, except for Appendix C, was OCRed from the original and then edited]

E&E/206

Members of crew

We left our base on 27 September 1943 to bomb BEAUVAIS. Over the target, as I was watching for fighters, flak burst in my turret. My hands and legs were cut. I had thought for a minute it was a fighter attack, but when I looked around I could see nothing but Spitfires. We kept on flying, but I suddenly saw that the left engine and wing were on fire. I had not heard of this on the intercom, which may have been due to deafening by the explosion in my turret. I started to climb down to tell the engineer, but he came toward me while I was doing so, and pulled me down the rest of the way. The engineer motioned to me to put on my chute and jump. I could see that the tail-gunner had already left the ship. The engineer jumped as soon as he saw that I was getting into my harness without difficulty.

I jumped at 12000 feet and free fell to 2000 feet. I did this purposely for I did not know where the German fighters
were and I wanted to beat the Jerries to my point of landing. Neither the plane nor other chutes were visible. I lay on my stomach and watched the earth with my knees drawn up under me. I thought I could eliminate being jerked if I kept my knees in this position, but when I pulled the rip-cord, I thought I would, be pulled in two. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I doubled up and rolled backward. This worked and I landed comfortably.

During the jump I started to lay my plans. I had two alternatives. I could run to either a small farmhouse or a big forest. I pulled on my shroud lines so that I succeeded in landing between the two. The forest was only 100, yards away. I thought that if I could hide there all day, I could safely approach the farmhouse that night. A dozen Frenchmen were already on the way to-meet me when I landed. They hid my chute and went into the woods with me talking the whole time.

In ten minutes the Germans arrived. They did a lot of yelling and fired into the forest, but for the moment they did not enter it. Two Frenchmen took me from the now dispersing crowd, to the far end of the forest. I was hidden in a cave that was cleverly concealed in one bank of a great hollow scoop in the earth. I stayed here for three hours, while the mice and toads ran up and down over me.

My friends returned with peasant clothes and a bottle of cider. My chute had been found so there were now three hundred Germans searching the woods. I was taken out of the cave and hidden in amongst some high ferns. I spent the night here. The search continued all that night and the next morning. I still had my flying jacket and it blended well with the dead ferns. I was sure I would be seen if I moved at all and lay motionless no matter how close they came to me. The air was continually filled with cries of "Heil Hitler". One soldier would call it and another would return it, then all of them would roar with laughter. Throughout the whole search the French managed to creep up a dry creek bank and bring me food.

More Germans were on the way that morning to reinforce the searching party. It started, however, to rain heavily. The Germans gave up the search. At 1900 a Frenchman took me through the fields to his home. I was given dry clothes and a hot supper. I spent the night here. Next morning I was taken to another house and from here my journey was arranged.

….. At night on 29 September a man named King (his father, now dead, was English) took me on foot to Labosse, [near Beauvais] 4 or 5 miles away. We went to the home of Mme Poste for the night. Her husband is a bus driver. I told them I wanted to go to Spain, and she told me she had a friend in Paris, whom she telephoned. The next morning, she took me 20 miles, by auto bus to the town of Marines. Here her friend Helliron, a baker met us. He took me by train to Paris. M. Poste had given me some civilian clothes. Helliron could not keep me, but he also had a friend Gustave Blancherat [should be Gustave Banchorel], 69 rue de la Chapelle, Paris, 18ième with whom I spent three days. He took my picture and contacted the organization through a friend of his who could speak English.
On 1 November [he must mean October], Capt Martin came to see me. He took me to the home of Mme Baston [Bastin] near Sacré Coeur de Montmartre, on the 3rd storey of a hotel full of Germans. I was to go from here to the field. Sgt Desrochers [E&E/192] & Sgt Klein [E&E/193] and Val Johnson of the RAF [SPG/1579] were here already. We stayed 5 days. An Irish woman named Kate who had lived in France for 18 years, was a frequent visitor. She did not belong to the organisation. The two Americans had been staying with Miss McKenzie in Paris.
On 8 November [October], we went to a big farm to meet the A/C. Capt Martin was with us, but it was too misty for the operation. We stayed with Lucien in a nearby village until, Monday, 11 November [October], when we returned to Mme Suzanne Baston [Bastin]. We found three Englishmen and one American whose names I do not know. We just spent the night there.
On 12 November[October], Val and I went to Sillery SE of Rheims. We stayed with Mlle Raymonde [Beuré]. Desrochers and Klein went to Mme Mullet [Lucienne Mulette] in Fismes. Raymonde comes from Fismes but operates from a three room cabin in the woods at Sillery. Her boy friend is named ?Tony? And a friend of his named ?Mangeur? brought us food. Lenard & Harold, RAF were also there [Sgt. Leonard Marsh? (SPG/1754) and Sgt. Harold N. Clarke? (SPG/1756)]. On 15 November [October], as the Germans were searching the woods for labor evaders, we went to the home in Sillery of a man named Georgeton. We were here four or five days. While here we met the Sillery station master, who is in the organisation. A security-minded French/Canadian [Conrad Lafleur] whom we had already met at the home of a blind man in Rheims, while on the way to Sillery, came to see us. He was a former evader who had returned to do organizational work.
When the Germans, who had been bombed out of Rheims, moved in across the street from us, we left. We were driven to a friend of Georgeton’s in Mailly, on the 21st [October]. His friend was Chandelot and he made wine and worked in the vineyards. We were here for 21 days. The man was not an organization member, we went to him to calm Mme Georgeton’s nerves, and we were forgotten. When we complained Chandelot went for the regional chief. He was tall and blond and had been a captain in the French artillery.
On 13 November, Chandelot drove us to Rheims in his horse and cart. Raymonde took us to Mme Mullet [Lucienne Mulette] in Fismes. Ellis [Klein] & Jack [Desrochers] had left on the 8th for Paris. On Monday, 15 November, at 4 pm, Raymonde took us to Paris. Here we met the man who had started this organization, although he is not the chief. He is tall and skinny with graying hair. He had seen Desrochers, Klein, Whalen & Browning off in the plane [8th November]. We spent the night at Mme Baston’s and on 16 November took a train to Chauny, where after supper we went to the field and took off at 0300 hours on 17 November. When we arrived we were met by Major Langley.