“I know that God was watching over me, and I am alive today because I stayed with my job as a chaplain’s assistant. Yes, I still like peanut butter and jam sandwiches.”
Come again?
Floyd Freeman wrote those words at the end of the chapter “How I Won the War” in his book “My Life Story”. The time was January, 1945, and the place was France at the end of World War II. He landed in Marseilles with the 70th Infantry Division “Trailblazers” and moved through the French countryside liberating small towns from the Germans. “While it’s not very well known”, he says, “I was in the Battle of Nord Wind which was adjacent in location and time to the Battle of the Bulge”. Through a random combination of occurrences (this was the army, right?) he became the soldier responsible for preparing hundreds of sandwiches for the wounded at his triage medical station each day with the only foodstuff plentifully available at the time – baguettes of French bread, tubs of peanut butter and canisters of strawberry jam.
“I served them from a large tray to the wounded men, the American soldiers as well as the German prisoner soldiers who had been hurt.” The men were so shattered physically that any heartier fare would have been too much for their system.
At war’s end Floyd maintained close contact with his fellow Trailblazers through correspondence and yearly re-unions. He opened a travel agency and soon found himself organizing tours of his fellow ex-GIs to locales they had last visited in the European Theatre. Since that initial effort with another organizer in 1977 he has led 15 group visits and assisted with 2 others. “There were usually around 50 people with a high of 70 for our fiftieth anniversary trip in 1995”. While the stops were varied, each town they visited had been liberated by the Trailblazers. “We were still well remembered by the French”, Floyd recalled, “and we were greeted with respect and reverence”. They would close the schools so the children could meet their heroes and every town erected a monument in their honor. Flags were carefully placed at each gravesite and a number of small museums were created locally to celebrate their sacrifices. “Oh Susanna”, the 70ths theme song, was proudly played wherever they went – usually marching in a local parade of honor.
Each of the tours stopped at St. Avold, the French military cemetery to honor their fallen comrades. Here again the group marched in and took their places for a solemn ceremony.
Once again through a random combination of occurrences, the Trailblazers began to associate with their German counterparts, the Sixth Mountain Division of the S.S. “We eventually would build in reciprocal visits to the cemetery for the German dead and St. Avold after we realized that so many had given their all at such a young age”. The reaction of the French was initially critical but they maintained contact and have now arrived at a state where Floyd says “some of those enemies are now my best friends”. A true lesson in humanity for us all.
Eventually there were more and more children and then grandchildren of the Trailblazers making the yearly trips than the originals given that over 1,000 World War 2 vets are passing each day. As Floyd aged also he sadly stopped the tours several years back.
Born in Minnesota and spending the last forty of his eighty-six years in the same home near Whitney High School, Floyd is a Cerritos booster. He came to his writing career through a class at the Patricia Nixon Senior Center and, true to form, has hosted numerous parties and celebrations for his colleagues. When the teacher was unable to continue several years back Floyd kept the group together – still meeting each week and sharing their efforts among themselves. Therein lies yet another story so look for a feature on the writers of Cerritos in a future Our Town column.
So the next time you enjoy a p.b. and j. give a thought and nod of respect to a true home town hero, Mr. Floyd Freeman. He’s a great guy – I hope you get the chance to meet him someday.
Please send your comments on this column and suggestions for future topics to b.hughlett@verizon.net.
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