Hi Del yes that's right we go back this June we have a wonderful and it's a very special place, this is a brief outline of how it all came about ,
Hi Steve
After the D-Day landings as they moved inland they moved into an orchard at night and took over from the Highland Division and settled into a large fox hole and noticed at the end half in half out was the body of a dead German paratrooper officer
In the morning my my dad noticed there was a house in the Orchard it was now reasonably quite and safe to do so he went to the house to look being I suppose young and inquisitive he only walked into the front door did not enter further and noticed a picture on the floor the house he was in placed it in his battle dress pocket.
Dad went on to fight at Hill 112 where he was wounded returned to his unit fought on into Germany until the end of the war.
On returning home after being demobbed in 1946 he joined the Police Force serving 33 years.
My dad kept the picture with other bits and pieces that hold the memory's of that period of his young life.
I was also a serving Police officer and I asked him forty years after the war why didn't he join the Normandy Veterans Association, this he did with his pals Tom Griffiths Edward Chapman VC BEM and they decided to go back to Normandy for the 40th Anniversary.
While there my dad wanted to try and find the house I remember him saying it was hard as your memory's are very much in black and white .
After a couple of false starts and ,looking in the wrong town they stopped in a small village called Mondrainville.
My dad separated from his pals and wandered down a small road turned the corner and found himself in the garden of a French family my dad apologised but the family could see from his blazer badge he was a British Veteran.
My father spoke to a man in his fortys , In very poor French,in my dads pocket he had the picture of the house that he had placed it in his pocket at the last moment when he had left Wales.
He showed it the man and asked if he new where this house was ,the man took the picture excused himself and walked off through some small trees .
He returned later with an old lady by this time my dad pals had found him and fortunately Tom could speak fluent French as he married a french girl at the end of the war .
The man then said to my dad you have to look no further for the house it is there and pointed through what was an orchard at the house in the picture ,the strange part was that my dad realised that he was stood almost exactly were his fox hole had been all those years ago.
The old lady was his mother Madame Legoff and he was her son who had been a baby at the time they were told to leave by a German Paratrooper officer and she said that with all the madness that was happening around he showed them kindness saying if they remained that he was sure that they would die in the fighting for the village , he put them in a vehicle and had them dropped a few miles away , he died the following day, in the orchard half in and half ours of a fox hole was the body of a German paratrooper his name was Lt Kaller which was in his Army service book in his pocket.
There was great excitement and much wine was drunk and this started a relationship with the village that continues today but has developed so much . With the head teacher of the school in Mondrainville and Mr La Goff who was now the Mayor the children of my dads home town started to visit the children of Mondrainville,this has continued for over 20 years . A road was named after Edwards Chapman VC which I remember him saying was right up there with his VC
Visits were frequent back to Normandy and the school in Mondrainville was becoming to small and the year before the 60th Aniversary a new school was built .
When my dad and Tom Griffiths went over they were asked to go to the school before going to the main celebrations .
It transpired that the Mayor and the head teacher had asked for permission from the French education authority to have the school named after my dad and Tom ,
Ecole Edwards Griffiths , it being the only school named after two British infantry soldiers in the whole of France,
I am taking my dad to France for the 70th Anniversary my dad is the sole survivor of any of the men he landed with both Eddy Chapman and sadly Tom Grittiths have passed away .This could well be the last time my dad can go age has caught up with him dodgy ticker prostrate cancer,and his Knees are not working well which he does blame the Germans for as they shot him there ....lol, but he won't let it stop him.
The children have been doing exchange visits for almost 20 years and 25 came over here last year and were given a wonderful time at Brecon museum kited out with red jackets and pith helmets and long will it continue .
Chris Edwards
