The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-22
CIVILIANS ARE | LEAVING PARIS
But Very Few Join Flight; Capture of Amiens Has
 Scared Them
BY HERBERT KING

NOnttSu EFeSS StAtk C0rte8pOnuentD
 Paris, May 22.-(UP)-Civllians began leaving Paris today. Their de- parture was calm and orderly.
 Only a few were leaving now. the timid and unattached. They had definite contemporaries in the country and in small Normandy towns.
 Premeir Paul Reynaud's an- nouncement that the Germans had taken Amiens, 65 miles north of Paris, had started them off. If and when the Germans drew closer, the movement was destined to grow. Tn these days of blitzkrieg, 1t might even become @ panic.
 But for the moment, those refu- gees pouring into Paris far outnum- bered those leaving.
 Railroad stations labored under a two-way stream of humanity-Bel- gians pouring in and Parisians leav- ing.
 Most of the Parisiens said they were only going to the country "un- til the situation Is cleared up." They were supremely confident of an Al- lied victory.
 Go Under Protest
 Many wives and children went un- der protest. They wanted 10 stay with husbands and fathers who must remain on their jobs. Govern ment and municipal functionaries are obliged to remain at their posts under severest penalty, including death.
 The Parisians mingled with Bel gian refugees number by fright, dirty, ill-clothed and hungry. No- body carried much luggage.
 Some went by automobile. The shiny, well-kept Parisian cars passed bullet-spattered automobiles, horse-drawn carts, bicycles and carts drawn by hand.
 The refugees streaming into Paris formed on intending panorama of personal tragedy. Theiy waited Tn the railroad stations and at refugee barracks for transportation to the country.
 A typical refugee was 10-year old Louise Holert. She sat on Q wood- en bench in one of the stations breathing the odors of disinfectant, hot soup bread, wine and nassed bodies. Louise's baby sister sat on her lap, fondling 0 cardboard air. plane.
 T am a Belgian girl and this is my sister Francine. We're going to the country" she said.
 Seek Sick, Wounded
 The arrival of every train was welcomed by a rush of French doc- tors and nurses down the track sides, stopping at every compart- ment window and asking, Any sick or woundned there?"
 The lucky ones answer: Non, Monster, merci.'-No sir, thank you,
 If there are wounded they arc taken from the rear cars.
 All are taken to the big stations They fall asleep sitting upright. Old men lean against walls and doze and children drop off to sleep on their feet with Q protecting around them to keep them from falling.
 Few of them weep.
 Nurse Gaudin, Q portly woman of 50 In & flowing blue uniform, who hasn't slept in two days said her charges were numbed by the shock of battle and leaving their homes.
 The Belgians talk in low voices They are extremely courteous to the women attendants and cat dainty as though they aren't hungry.
 Louise said her mother had been taken to a hospital. She and Fran cine are alone.
 Left At Night
 we left our home at night" she said. My brother put us on a bus to Namur but then all that was changed. We had to walt in a crowded farm house where mamma got sick.
 We waited and waited and finally got a train for France but It took so long. It always stopped md they had to fix 1t because of the Ger man bombs hitting It. We weren't hurt by the bombs but the train erked ujp and down. Francine cried all the time until nice lady gave Ter that airplane. have & big ger brother and uncle who are so.- diers, but I haven't seen them"
 Jean Seghers, 30, had a small farm west of Brussels.
 I'm all alone now" he said. My wife and two children-we're ex- pecting third-were unable to move. Somebody had to look after grandmother and grandfather who are over 30 years old. Whats hap pened to them now I cannot tell"
 Tn another refugee center, 1l-year old Jeanne Bradin, her pretty blonde hair tied up with a stringy ribbon and wearing an apron soiled from changing so many infants, in- troduced Belgian playmate, Berthe, whose neck had been cut by flying glass in bomb explosion. Rerthe said her neck is stiff and hurts when l lie down."
 Child Is So Tired
 "I'm SO tired but the nurse said it would be all right tomorrow"
 She moved over to an old woman, sitting on a trunk. leaned on her bosom and was asleep immediately.
 A little girl about ten years old told in a matter -of-fact way how she had hitch-hiked to Paris and that of the whole journey "the worst part was stepping over bodies in the woods"
 Pierre Arthur Vandamme came from Antwerp. He lost an arm, a foot and half of one side of his face in the last war as young sol- dier defending Antwerp.
 q never thought that after 25 years I'd have. to begin all this over