May 8, 2016 Somewhere in France (Honfleur)

                                                                                                25 June, 1944
                                                                                        Somewhere in France
My darling,                           

Today has been a beautiful sunny Sunday with bright blue skies just like home.  It made me wish that you could be here to share it with me.  Were it not for the war I think you would really enjoy it.  The countryside is dotted with orchards, hedgerows between fields and numerous trees.  The farms are devoted primarily to dairy farming and grazing.  I have had an opportunity to practice my French on two peasants and found that we could understand each other fairly well.  It was fun to speak French again.

You would be surprised to hear what I did today over here.  In the morning I attended Church services conducted by a Chaplain outdoors under some trees.  There was a good attendance and it was quite moving to see it.  Then I took a walk partly for business and partly for pleasure.  In the afternoon I took the men out for a softball game.  I acted as umpire.  You might think we were back in the States instead of being over here.

The food we are getting is adequate and all the meals are hot.  It all comes out of cans, however.  I am afraid it will get a little monotonous after a time.

Still no mail.  It now looks as if I will not get any mail for three weeks or more.  Don't worry about me - I am taking good care of myself.

I love and adore your as always.  Kiss Billy for me.

                                                                                                    Your own,
                                                                                                                Bill

Were it not for the war, Mom and Dad might have been doing what Sugar and I are doing.  We are now at the mouth of the Seine, on Rive Gauche, in Honfleur.  I think Le Havre is on the other side of the river.  Here are some peeks at Honfleur:

A room with a view.

This last picture is of Chapelle de Grace in a small village on a hill immediately above Honfleur.  It is beautiful and dedicated to mariners.  Constructed between 1600-1615 as a replacement for the original chapel founded before 1023 AD by Richard II, the Duke of Normandy, the stained glass windows commemorate various ships and I'm not sure whether they were lost at sea or not.  Chapelle de Grace has sailboat models hanging from its ceilings and for a mariner, this is a real treasure.  The original chapel was destroyed by sliding down the steep hillside in the 16th century

You can check out Honfleur's history on Wikipedia, and one thing that stands out is that Champlain departed from here in 1608 and proceeded on that voyage to found the city of Quebec.  Of course, I'm sure David Fischer already told us that in his wonderful biography of Champlain.

I love Dad's June 25, 1944 letter.  This letter is a big reason Sugar and I are here today.   He must have been relieved to finally get to France, even if it's just getting to umpire a softball game on the beaches of Normandy.  This letter is full of what I remember about Dad.  But some words are jarring to read.  Ever learning, we will see a transformation in his attitude about the French, and we get a hint of his steps down the path of becoming a unique asset to XIXth Army Corps in one manner, and eventually, by means of another strength, an asset to the accuracy of XIXth Corp Artillery's war-making capacity.  Knowing him, he must have been raring to go.

As you can see from the photos, on this Sunday, we had a "beautiful sunny Sunday with bright blue skies just like home."  Although the cirrus clouds spell troubling weather ahead, we will recall this beautiful weather, with temps in the mid-70's, during rainy days ahead.  But for Dad and me, we viewed Sundays in different ways.  I think he enjoyed Sundays because of Church, roast beef dinner with roasted potatoes and French vanilla ice cream for dessert, and a family outing with his kids after Sunday dinner.  And for me as a young child, I didn't like Sundays because of Church, roast beef dinner with roasted potatoes and French vanilla ice cream, and a family outing after Sunday dinner.  Then I was sent to St. Mark's where we attended Church 2 times per day and three times on Sundays, but at least it was the only day when we did not have classes.  And after surreptitiously shoveling my roast beef into my napkin and dropping the napkin in the trash can as I helped clear the dishes for years (and my grandmother, sitting on my left, was shoveling hers into her hand so she could feed her dog sitting next to her under the table), once I left home and avoided roast beef for a decade or so, I learned to love it when I relented and started eating it again.  And the family outings I dreaded became a part of my family ritual as I became a parent, and I loved hiking on the mountains of Acadia, and eventually Katahdin too.

Tomorrow, there not being a war, we are off to Bayeux and then to Arromanches and the Normandy beaches.  Sugar and I want to wish all you mothers out there, no exceptions, a very Happy Mother's Day.  It is you who stayed home (or not) and provided the backbone of the nation in its most trying times (and at all other times).  You deserve this day and our thanks. 

Love, Nat