ESCAPE!

ESCAPE!

by Lieutenant Colonel James Edwin Armstrong, USAFR, Retired

Spartanburg, S.C.: Honoribus Press, 2000

James Edwin Armstrong was wing man on ten WWII European bombing missions when he was made flight leader for his fateful last flight. His B-17 went down over France and the French resistance eventually got him back to England, which is what most of the book is about. After the war he left his regular job to answer God's call to become a Pastor.

Armstrong was born 3 August 1922 in Bradenton, Florida. After high school he attended Georgia Tech as a chemical engineering student. But on 21 January 1942, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 at McDill Field in Tampa, Florida. He trained at Lakeland, Florida, Bainbridge, Georgia, Columbus, Mississippi, Sebring, Florida, Boise, Idaho, and Walla Walla, Washington. Armstrong transferred to England and learned to fly a B-17 in tight formation, something neglected in his stateside training. Finally he flew combat as a member of the 546th Bombardment Squadron, 384th Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force.

Hamburg

One of Armstrong's combat missions involved the firebombing of Hamburg. His specific target was the Blohm and Voss U-boat Yard located on the Elbe River. After learning later about the huge number of civilian casualties at Hamburg, he wondered about the bombs he dropped that day. Armstrong was somewhat comforted later by the research of author Martin Middlebrook. Middlebrook's book, The Battle of Hamburg, revealed that the British and American raids on Hamburg July 24 and 25 caused the deaths of 45,040 people. Of these deaths about 40,000 occurred in the second RAF raid. The two American missions of July 24 and 25 probably caused some one percent of the total deaths (p.328). In addition to the deaths, 37,214 were injured.

Fateful Mission

Armstrong's last mission was to bomb the VKF ball bearing plant at Stuttgart. On the return, his plane was slowed both by headwinds and by a hit in an engine from antiaircraft fire. Then an enemy fighter damaged one wing and wounded a waist gunner. On another pass, the FW 190 set the bomber on fire with a 20mm hit. The crew bailed out over France, landing near the village of Etrepagny.

Many people, both men and women, helped Armstrong escape German-occupied France, and the bulk of the book tells this story. I will report on just three of these individuals involved in the Dahlia Network. The first is Jacques Mourlet.

Mourlet

At the age of 24 Jacques in 1940 was released from the armed service. With release papers in hand, he boarded a train for Bordeaux where he met a distinguished traveler, Major Jean du Plessis de Grenedan, who informed Jacques about the French resistance. Jacques invited the Major to his home in Quimper. Jacques' mother, Marie Lozac'hmeur Mourlet lived in the house with her single son.

Madame Marie Mourlet was not as favorably impressed with the Major as was Jacques. For to her the guest talked too much about himself and his various relationships with women. As a mother she was concerned for her son's welfare in his association with such a braggart. Her fear was confirmed when Jean du Plessis de Grenedan later was arrested, and in his first interrogation mentioned Jacques' name. Then Jacques was arrested and imprisoned at Mesgloagen prison in Quimper.

Learning of her son's arrest and imprisonment, Marie Mourlet, thought that a few days in prison may be beneficial to Jacques and that he might learn to be more careful about his acquaintances. She expressed her thought to his superintendent of the prison. He replied, "Lady, don't take it so lightly. It's more serious that you think!" The superintendent knew the German authorities dealt harshly with any kind of resistance.

After a week in the local prison, Jacques spent another week in a prison at Brest, two weeks in a prison at Rennes, and then was taken to the infamous prison of Fresnes in Paris. Understanding now the seriousness of the matter, Marie Mourlet hurried to the prison in Paris. At the prison she tried to see her son, but after knocking on many doors, she learned that all visits were forbidden. She did say to a guard, "Tell him that you saw his mom!" Then she burst into tears. A Frenchman behind her, who was going through the same ordeal, said to her, "Madame, one does not cry in front of a German!" "Sir," she replied, "We fight the best way we know how!" In despair Madame Mourlet returned to Quimper. Soon afterwards Jacques was released from Fresnes prison.

Jacques' liberation from Fresnes prison may have been precipitated by an appeal made by a German army officer in Quimper. At that time the officer was a tenant in the home of Marie Mourlet, and due to her persuasion wrote a letter to prison officials on behalf of Jacques.

At Easter in 1942 Jacques at the age of 26 married the beautiful Madeleine (both are shown in the picture at the right). At that time Jacques was satisfied to operate in business as a wine merchant, and not carry on with activities that were not in accordance with German policies. But in 1943 Jacques was introduced to Joseph Salaun, director of the Likes school in Quimper Jacques' uncle and a brother to Marie Mourlet, Abbe Corentin Lozac'hmeur, the chaplain at Likes, introduced them. The introduction would mean that Jacques would become an active worker in the resistance, for Joseph Salaun was already deeply entrenched in underground work.

An initial clandestine operation involving Jacques Mourlet was the rescuing of an American airman, Sgt. Cecil Earl Bell of Longview, Texas. Sgt. Bell was the lone surviving member of a U.S. transport plane which was shot down south of Quimper near the village of Pleuven on August 11, 1943. On August 14 Salaun used Jacques' car to bring Sgt. Bell to Jacques' house. He stayed there until August 27. On September 9 Sgt. Bell became an escapee on the fishing boat Au Voulac'h, which crossed the channel to England.

A second arrest of Jacques Mourlet occurred in June 1944 when he as denounced by an unknown collaborator. He spent two months in the St. Charles prison in Quimper before being liberated by the Resistance immediately prior to the entrance of American troops into Quimper. When the majority of Germans left the city ahead of the Americans, the keys to the prison were discarded. The liberators broke down the doors, however, and freedom came to Jacques. But on old German soldier was left inside to care for the prisoners. The liberators wanted to kill him, but Jacques Mourlet intervened, pleaded for the old soldier's life, which was spared. Jacques Mourlet was a man for all seasons, who showed mercy for Allied fliers and for his captor as well.

Salaun

Joseph Salaun (pictured at the right) was born at Ploneis in Brittany on January 20, 1896. His initial education was at Les Likes, and then he furthered his education at Guernsey and Plymouth. He was mobilized into the French army during WWI and was seriously wounded in battle. On his recovery and ultimate separation form the army, he returned to Les Likes, where he served as a professor in the Catholic school, then vice director, and then in 1941, director.

Never accepting defeat, Joseph Salaun did all he could to keep his young people of the school out of the clutches of the enemy. He became an important resistor in the networks whose goals were to hide and liberate Allied airmen as well as young Frenchmen who were pursued by the Gestapo. At the same time he carried on with his responsibility as director. This Joseph Salaun was a man of action and a man of duty.

As director of the Likes school, Joseph Salaun, by his position and his fluency in the German language, gained the respect of his German overseers. So as time passed during the occupation, he collected official seals which allowed him to create false identification cards mainly for young Frenchmen. In many countless ways he gave counsel and aid to those in hiding. His cohort, Jacques Mourlet, after the war wrote of Joseph Salaun, "He will remain for all of us who knew his deeds in the underground movement, the purest example of selfless patriotism and political perceptiveness."

When Yves Les Henaff in the summer of 1943 came to the Quimper area and formed the Dahlia network, Joseph Salaun became a key member in the successful departure of escape boats. The first of these was the fishing boat Moise with an English airman as one of the passengers. The next escape boat Au Voulac'h left for England on September 9 with Sgt.Bell as one of the passengers. Salaun was directly involved in bringing Bell from Pleuver to Quimper, caring for him, and procuring the services of the surgeon Dr. Ollivier-Henry to remove a piece of shrapnel from Bell. Beside these two departures, "Sup" (his alias) involved himself with other exploits, including a failure on November 1, 1943 involving Armstrong.

But alas there came that dreadful day of April 26, 1944, when Salaun was arrested by the Gestapo. A man was recommended to Salaun by the vicar of the church in Douarnenez (a port city 10 miles from Quimper). Vicar Cariou unwittingly believed the man to be a prospect as a worker in the network. The mistake resulted in the arrest of Cariou and Salaun

Salaun managed to smuggle a letter to his friends. Here is a part:

I have been beaten, as I would never beat an animal, with a leather strap with a strip of steel in the middle. On Friday evening we were sure that we were to be shot as hostages. Well, Mr. Cariou and I were well prepared for the supreme sacrifice. We are perhaps only at the beginning of a long calvary!!

"So far I am holding out, but it is horrible! The reality is more than one can imagine. I am counting on everyone's prayers. . . . We are in a cold and damp cellar

"Unity in prayers. I hope that all those who have something to be afraid of have asked for their transfer Goodbye. Joseph Salaun."

The letter was to be delivered to the assistant director at Les Likes school, Mr. LeBail.

One last note from Salaun was written on a scrap of paper thrown from a wagon:

"Please forward this to the address, Mr. Le Director 78, rue de Sevres, Paris Vile. On July 10th [1944] I passed through Paris on the way to Compiegne. I'm in good health, but I'm hungry. Please tell the nearest community [house] from Compiegne for a parcel (if possible). Thanks a lot. Donan Joseph [his religious name], civil prisoner from Quimper"

Finally his journey ended at the infamous concentration camp in the north of Germany, Neuengamme. Fellow prisoner Cariou described Neuengamme:

"It was a squalid penal colony, a prison created from hate by the most dense and brutal paganism. One would need Dante's pen to describe our life in that joyless and hopeless hell. They sang in the prison Saint-Charles at Rennes, at Compiegne, but they did not sing at Neuengamme. I will reproach our torturers not so much for their floggings and the bites of their dogs, or their wish to starve us and to exhaust our last bit of physical energy with hard labor - all in their constant effort to humiliate and degrade us. Christ's cross was absent from this cursed place. All religious insignias had been taken from us. It was necessary to suppress at all costs anything that made man remember his nobility and his glorious calling as a child of God. The temple of Neuengamme was this crematorium which night and day spat out its menacing smoke. It was a temple of nothingness, which was a constant insult to our Christian faith."

Surviving the ordeal Cariou returned to Douarnenez with the last words spoken to him by his friend Joseph Salaun. Armstrong wrote that, "like the Bible apostles of old, the words of my hero still speaks to my heart."

"Unity in prayer, always. If something bad should happen to one of us, the survivor will remain faithful to the memory of the other. I do not think that I will come out of this. After all, I have no reason to complain. My life, when all is said and done, has been beautiful and happy. I have served, as best I can, the two causes worthy of losing my life: that of my country, and that of my God. I have taught generations of students. I have worked to make of them good Frenchmen and robust Christians. To die at 48 for one's country and one's faith really would not be so bad. God has spoiled me . . . You will tell all the teachers, all the students at the Likes, that I hold them in the same fond embrace."

From Neuengamme Salaun was sent as a part of a work brigade to the Farge Kommando, near Brime, Germany. A little before midnight on December 17, 1944, he died.

Le Henaff

Yves Le Henaff was a native of the Quimper area. The Le Henaff family owned a canning plant near Quimper, so members of the Le Henaff family were well known. At the age of 20 Yves was accepted in the naval academy of France. Upon graduation as a naval officer, he served three years in China. He was scheduled by the French Vichy Admiralty in the fall of 1942 to be trained in an air squadron. But in November of that year Yves was caught in North Africa in the city of Oran by the invading Allies. Yves despised the Third Reich, and therefore he was easily recruited by the Allies for special training in England for "pick up" techniques of the Lysander airplane behind German lines.

After completing such training in England, Yves was parachuted into Brittany on the night of June 14, 1943. A fellow parachutist was his radio operator Robert Vanier, a Canadian. Le Henaff' settled again in his native Brittany, assuming the names of "Alain Divanac'h" and "Fanfan" to cover up his true identity. It has been reported that Yves has his nose and jaw broken by a surgeon, which changed his appearance dramatically. Even his nieces didn't recognize him. He proudly told them that their uncle was fighting in North Africa.

Back in Brittany Yves began to organize his network, "Dahlia." His attention turned more to the use of escape boats from Brittany shore rather than procuring landing zone for the British Lysander planes. One of the early successes was the clandestine sailing of the fishing boatAu Voulac'h on September 10, 1943, with Sgt.Bell on board. As mentioned above, the transporting and hiding of Sgt. Bell fell largely on the shoulders of two members of the Dahlia organization, Joseph Salaun and Jacques Mourlet. On October 2, 1943, the departure of the boat La Perouse with several Allied airmen on board was another plus for the Dahlia network, when the boat with its cargo landed safely on the English shore.

But then came a failure. In the last week of October 1943, ten Allied airman (of which Armstrong was one) has recently arrived in Quimper from Paris. The fishing boat had been purchased, and arrangements were made for the boat to be taken to an escape site and be placed under the care of the owner of the dock. But here lies the broken link in the chain of events. The wife of the dock owner persuaded her husband not to involve himself in the operation. So the November 1, 1943, deadline for the launching of the boat and the rendezvous with the British motor torpedo boat was not met. The mission was scrubbed, and the Allied airmen were returned by train to Paris on the 3rd or 4th of November.

Yet Fanfan (Yves) had not given up, and one failure was not final for him. On the night of November 11, after an all day rain, three Lysanders were scheduled to land on a farmer's field southwest of Paris. The first plane succeeded in landing on the muddy field. Two French officers of the resistance and RAF pilot Vic Matthews climbed on board. With much difficulty take off was achieved even though the wheel guards were caked with mud. Le Henaff was to be a passenger on the 3rd Lysander, but the two other planes received signals not to land because of the ground conditions. All planes returned to England.

Returning to Quimper, Yves organized another mission. The boat Le Jouet des Flots (The Puppet of the Waves) was purchased and was brought to Tudy Island southeast of Pont-l'Abbe'. In the early morning of February 3, 1944, with 33 passengers and crew the Le Jouet des Flots debarked for England, a destination which would not be attained. For at 4:30 a.m. the boat sprang a leak and was beached on the shore west of Pont-l'Abbe'.

Once safely on shore, the 33 divided up into groups seeking cover from the German patrols. Sgt. Ralph Hall of Dadeville, Alabama, and a gunner of a B-17 shot down in Brittany was one of the escaping passengers. Fortunately he walked upon the same farm house where he hid for a few days previously. From the farm house Sgt. Hall was taken to a safe house in the city of Douarnenez. He stayed there until liberated by the invading American army in August of 1944.

Yves, however, met a different fate. At a German road block, he, Emile Bolleart, and Pierre Brossolette (two French resistance leaders) were arrested. On July 2, 1944, the brave leader of the Dahlia network, suffocated in a crowded, locked, railroad box car on the way to Dachow prison camp.

Post War Years

After the war Jim Armstrong graduated from the University of Florida in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture. He and his wife Nita resided in Bradenton with their three children. Then in 1961, Jim felt God's call. Here is what happened in his own words:

"Yet, our years of marriage were not always smooth and easy. Storms in many forms came our way. In one of these stressful times of becoming dissatisfied with my life, I began to hear over and over another tune, "There's something more!" But I questioned, "What is it I need beyond what I have? I have a wonderful, supportive wife, three adorable children, a job, a home-what more do I need?" Yet, the search continued for the "something more."

During my increasing thirst for an elusive unknown fulfillment, a new pastor was called by my church. He came preaching the message, which seemed to be designed for me, "Because of my sin, I was lost. But God in His love for me, sent His Son to find me." For a time, I struggled with the message. "Why, I am a respected elder in the church and did all I knew to live a good moral life. Isn't that enough?" I knew the answer was "NO." I had to yield my life to God. Then transaction was made! I received Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord! "So if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:30 NIV) Once I was lost - now I am found."

Armstrong's call included entering the ministry. He and his family moved to Decatur, Georgia. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary. He pastored two Presbyterian churches and founded New Covenant Church (nondenominational) in Thomasville, Georgia where he served as pastor until his retirement in 1984.

Armstrong now lives in Thomasville, Georgia with his wife Nita and remains active in New Covenant Church. He enjoys playing golf working in his garden and visiting their three children and seven grandchildren. Since 1981 he has made numerous trips to France and continues to correspond with his many French friends.