From the August 26, 2021, Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald "Paris celebrates its liberation from Nazis 75 years later" by Angela Charlton and Elaine Gainley, AP.
Parisians don wartime uniforms to retrace the entry of French and U.S. tanks into the city on August 25, 1944.
Paris, France, celebrated the American soldiers, French Resistance fighters and others who liberated the City of Light from Nazi occupation on Sunday, unleashing kissing, dancing, tears and gratitude.
Firefighters unfurled a huge French flag from the Eiffel Tower, recreating the moment when a French tricolor stitched together with sheets was hoisted up it to replace the swastika flag which had flown there for four years.
Dozens of World War II-era jeeps, armored vehicles, motorcycles, trucks and people dressed in wartime uniforms and dresses paraded through southern Paris, retracing the entry of French and U.S. tanks into the city on August 25. 1944.
Among those there that day was Roger Acher, 96, one of the few surviving veterans, who entered Paris with Gen. Philippe Leclerc de Hauterclocue's 2nd Armored Division around dawn that day. Fighting with remaining German forces was fierce as they moved toward the center of the city, he recalled, "I almost got killed."
--GreGen
No comments:
Post a Comment