Evening star., 1945-06-03
Bodies Still Dragged
From Normandy Ruins
After Almost a Year
~ the Associated Press.


Norman towns ravaged by the
warfare which swept across the
hedgerow country last summer stane
today as sad and forlorn monuments
to Allied victory on the beaches.
But bodies still are being pulled
from the heaped debris by French
workers trying to bring some orde,
out OF the chaos created by bombs
and shells.
Not much progress has been made
IN rebuilding the battered towns
About all any one has been able to dc
Is to remove the debris from the
streets and haul away the worst of
the wreckage. Some houses have
been patched up and made habit
able, but it will be many years before
the towns can be rebuilt.
Lack of building materials and
transportation facilities are the
principal problems rather than a
shortage Of labor. Until bricks, lum-
ber and other material can be OBJ
tanned there is little the French can
do about restoring their homes and
businesses.
st. Lo Hardest Hit.
st. Lo, scene of prolonged and
bitter fighting, is the most ravaged
of all the Norman towns. Only a
traction of the debris has been
cleared away, and the streets are
walled in by piles of rubble which
once were buildings.
For time the French considered
leaving st. Lo just as it was-a place
where tourists could see the havoc
wrought by the fury of war. Final
ly they started trying to clear up
the wreckage, but they have barely
made start.
Norman highways, like Norman
towns, still bear the scars of war.
They are pitted and rough, but the
farmlands through which they pass
show little traces of fighting Ma
ture has healed most of the gaping
wounds left by bombs and shells,
and cattle Craze in peaceful fields.
Food is no problem in the country
and in almost any small town one
can get an excellent meal of vege-
table soup, beef, potatoes, green
salad, whole-wheat bread, butter
and wine for about $2-a meal
which would cost five times as much
in Paris.
Sugar, tea. coffee, chocolate, spices
and oils still are luxury items, but
the Normans are living well.
Countryside Is Lush.
So peaceful is the lush country
side that it is startling to come
now and then upon a field white
with crosses-the resting places of
hundreds of Americans who gave
their lives for the liberation of
Europe and eventual defeat of Ger
many.
1t is surprising, too, how many
of the graves are decorated with
t1owers-placed there by French
families who came to love the boys
billeted in or near their towns.
Each Sunday dozens of men, women
and children visit the cemeteries
and drop flowers on the graves.
One of the most beautiful is La
Gamble Cemetery, which originally
was a burial place for men of the
29th Infantry Division who fell in
battle-most of them fighting their
way into st. Lo. 1t. Gen. Leslie
McNair, who was killed by Allied
bombs during the great break
through bombardment, is buried
there, as is Bede Irwin, Associated
procc y@hofarro rr,I, Lfl1oI
in the same bombing.
Only a few miles away is st.
Laurent Cemetery, which overlooks
Omaha Beach," bloodiest battle
',round of the invasion, where the
st Division and the 116th Regiment
f the 29th Division spearheaded the
5sault landing.
Near the cemetery are the re-
aims of crumbling weedgrown
'enches and pillboxes from which
!e Germans poured whitening
re at the American troops.
Prisoners Working.
1t. Michael Billitch, New York
ity, is supervising the landscaping
st. Laurent and La Gamble Gene
-ries and has crews of German
lisoners to do the work.
Later civilian superintendent
i'll be left in charge of each ceme-
ery," he said. Right now we want
to get them ready for any pilgrim
ages of Gold Star mothers from
the States"
American troops who landed on
Utah Beach" doubtless will remem-
Der the prison cage where the first
captured Germans were held in an
open field. There were only a few
hundred prisoners there then, but
the cage has grown into a great
camp which now houses $4,000 pri-
Soners of war-including 80 generals
and three field marshals.
Since We day there has not been
a single attempt to escape, accord
ing to Capt. Clifford Bolton of Chris
man, Ill.
Those who tried to escape before
the war ended averaged about three
days of freedom" Capt. Bolton said.
Usually they were caught by
Frenchmen and returned to the
camp"
On We day the Germans carefully
remained inside the buildings, out
of sight of the wildly happy French.
The French went wild and for
three days they paraded down the
roads with a brass band, singing,
and shooting off pistols and
rifles" Capt. Bolton said. THAT
kept the Germans inside. They
were afraid if the French saw them
they might get shot"
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