D-Day Scouter's Minute
The following is based on
" The Left Handshake - The Boy Scout Movement During the War 1939 -45 "
by H St. George Saunders, [ Collins, London 1949] pp139 - 140
No better example of how French Scouts helped their country during the occupation can be found than in the story of Jean Pierre Comboudon, a 16 year-old Rover Scout from Issy les Moulineaux, a suburb of Paris. After the invasion the township was cut off by fighting between allied and occupying troops. Food was not getting through, and there was general disorganisation of services everywhere.
Jean Pierre persuaded the Mayor to give him a free hand. Equipped with two lorries, a small sum in cash and a motorcycle he went around local fields and farms and collected some ten tons of vegetables. Next he ventured further afield into Oise, which was still the scene of actions between the retreating Germans and Canadian forces. He and his companion collected some thirty tons of foodstuffs. On the way back to town he not only had to deal with a flat tyre, but also one of his lorries was hit during an air raid, and he had to put out the resulting fire. On the way he encountered two wounded passers-by, and drove them to the hospital. But the hospital was deserted, empty of staff and supplies. He went around the town collecting medical supplies and bedding and established the wounded in the hospital before continuing his journey back to Issy. Rations for 25,000 people were issued, which fed the inhabitants until the town was liberated by American forces on 26 June after a battle lasting three days. During this time Jean Pierre rescued wounded .
As if this was not enough, he penetrated a position held by 400 desperate SS troops, who were convinced that they would be slaughtered and determined to fight to the last. Jean Pierre managed to persuade them to surrender to the allies, and by so doing saved many lives on both sides.
The above is a paraphrase of the original. I occasionally persuade our Scoutmaster to lend me his Scoutmaster's Minute to try to introduce little bits of Scouting history to the troop, and I used this story last week at our meeting which fell between Memorial Day and the D-Day anniversary. Scouts from Transatlantic Council had recently returned from Normandy where we visited the Pointe de Hoc and the American Cemetery. One Scout in T401 is dual French / American and his grandmother visited us in camp and told the boys how she had been a little girl during the D-Day Landings and had watched the American forces come ashore. Her family had been involved with the Resistance, and she herself had previously been interned in a concentration camp. Clearly this story had particular significance for the Scouts who had actually visited Omaha Beach a few weeks previously, but I hope that it might be usefull to you Scouters and your troops.
Ian Ford
Troop 401 BSA
(American School in London)
