14 Oct 1943	Blown out of plane & landed near Pretz-en-Argonne (~30 kms N. of Bar-le-Duc). Right leg injured. Walked S. through Pretz until ~22:00.
15 Oct 1943	Stayed with man called Eugene (45) & family in Sommaisne (~2kms SE of Pretz).
18 Oct 1943	Car to Louppy le Chateau (~15 kms SW of Sommaisne). Sheltered by Robert Petit (25). Dr. treated Childs' leg. Taken to see Sgt Henry Berry (Tollie Berry?) at Lisle-en Barrois.
22 Oct 1943	Car to Revigny-sur-Ornain (~10 kms SW of Louppy). Met up with Ogilvie & Kilmer. Sheltered by Louis (29) & Marie, his mistress. Another Dr. treated his leg. Met a man called Auguste, possibly head of resistance in Revigny & Mme Dubois, who had sheltered Ogilvie.
25-26 Oct 1943	Car to Bavihcourt (possibly Vavincourt, ~20 kms E of Revigny). Sheltered by another Louis G??? & family. Also staying was a Sgt Hall of Lt Harmeson's crew (no Hall in that crew; possibly means Sgt Bill Howell (USAAF)). Every night, they visited Sgt Jay Jolley (also of Harmeson's crew), who had a broken leg. His Dr. got them ID cards.
9 Nov 1943	Met Robert Lhuerre (a school teacher), who took Childs, Howell & Jolley by car to Hargeville (not found, ~5 kms from Vavincourt ), as the Germans were coming. Later, he took them by truck to Bar-le-Duc (~110 kms SE of Reims). Childs taken by a girl (M??, ~22) to her parents' apartment near a canal. Sgts Robert Henry & Tollie Berry (USAAF) were nearby.
13 Nov 1943	Lhuerre, Childs, Howell & Jolley caught 16:00 train for Reims intending to get off at a small local station. Henry, Berry & a blond woman (~35) joined the train at Mussey (~10kms WNW of Bar-le-Duc) & got off at Vitry-le-François. Somehow Lhuerre missed the stop & they ended up in Reims after curfew.
14 Nov 1943	They hid while Lhuerre arranged a car & escorts;one was "a big Belgian" (Jean Lorgé?). Driven to Verzenay (~17 kms SE of Reims), where they were sheltered by a champagne maker (~27) & his wife, Raymonde (~25).
27 Nov1943	Taken by Jean Lorgé to Reims. Sheltered by Marcel Tavernier & family - a butcher - at Rue des Romains. Met Conrad Lafleur.
5 Dec1943	Taken to Fismes by a girl (~ 24, Raymonde Beure?). Stayed at the home of a baker (M.Gobert?).
end-Dec 1943	Joined Sgts Kenneth Nice & Lester Knopp (USAAF) at M. and Mme. Dezothy's home.
31 Dec1943	When the Germans arrived, the three airmen managed to escape, and travelled S/W for the next few days passing through ...
3 Jan 1944	Chateau Thierry (~50 kms S/W of Fismes) then Montmirail ...
4 Jan 1944	Les Essarts (N/W of Sezanne) ...
5 Jan 1944	Sezanne ... there's more to come!

Pilot	0-665530	Capt Donald P OGILVIE	Arrested Paris - 6 Mar 1944. Sent to Stalag Luft III.
Co-pilot	0-671962	1st Lt Bruce KILMER	Arrested Paris - 6 Mar 1944. Sent to Stalag Luft III.
Navigator	0-806168	2nd Lt Everett L CHILDS	Narrator
Bombardier	?	2nd Lt William H WILSON	Killed in action?
Radio operator	?	T/Sgt James R MURRAY	Crossed into Switzerland ~21 Oct 1943 & interned. NARA:E&E/1661
Top turret gunner / Flight engineer	?	T/Sgt Emmett HOOD	Crossed into Switzerland ~21 Oct 1943 & interned
Ball turret gunner	?	S/Sgt James McKEON	Crossed into Switzerland ~21 Oct 1943 & interned
Waist gunner	?	S/Sgt William E MARTIN	Crossed into Switzerland ~21 Oct 1943 & interned
Waist gunner	?	S/Sgt Francis R SYLVIA	Crossed into Switzerland ~21 Oct 1943 & interned
Tail gunner	?	S/Sgt Louis L RATKIEWICZ	Crossed into Switzerland ~21 Oct 1943 & interned

E&E/1122 - Escape/France - 9.11.44

2d Lt Everett Lynn Childs, 0800168, 540/384 Bomb Gp (H), MIA 14 Oct 43 Intrvd 25 Aug 1944 et seq

Returning from Schweinfurt on 14 Oct 43 CHILDS was blown out of the ship after the P had given the order to bail out, which he had not heard, and only the CoP was left in the plane. He opened too high and landed W of BEAUZEE, N of PRETZ both N of BAR Le DUC ( ). After hiding for 15 minutesor half an hour he walked down the road to Pretz; someone took him to the woods to hide and gave him food. Then he decided that he was too close to the place where he had come down and walked on until 2200 when he covered himself with leaves and tried to sleep. About dawn he saw a man going through the woods and got him over. The man took him to a villaage, presumably SOMMAISNA This man was EUGENE, 45, who has a brother at 5129 Carmen Ave, Chicago, Illinois. He had a girl 20, engaged to a POW, a girl abouu 12, and a baby.

On 17 Oct a fairly well dressed man, about 35, 180, 5'10", asked whether he could ride a bicycle. With him was a younger and taller fellow. The farmer had instructed Childs to state that he could not ride a.bicycle.

On 18 Oct a different man came in a car and took him to LOUPPY le Chateau (Meuse), where he stayed with Robert PETIT, 25, who had lived in Paris and been a clothes merchant. He was married. He got a doctor to take care of Childs' leg.

Childs was taken to visit Sgt Henry BERRY, 23 [Tollie Berry?], married four times, flying Forts, possibly an RO. He was staying with a man who was an invalid and lived with his sister and wife. The town was possibly Lisle en Barrois.

About 22 Oct a man with a car gave him 500 francs and took him to Revigny where he met Ogilvie and Kilmer, P and CoP. He stayed with Louis, about 29, who showed him a brief case with Childs' name on it. Louis said that he had taken care of 11 Russian P/W. An old couple brought food. He met a woman named MARIE, Louis' mistress, who had a boy 8 and a girl 13 and whose husband was a P/W. Another doctor came to treat him., A man who owned a power plant near St. Diziers, seemed to be the chief in Revigny, name possibly August. He had been an interpreter for the Americans in the last war. He met Mme Dubois, who had sheltered Ogilvie; the latter had been moved from her chateau because there was danger that the Germans were going to stay there. About 25 or 26 Oct the same man in the car took Childs to BAVIHCOURT and put him with Sgt Hall (E&E?) of Lt Harmeson's crew, who was staying with a postman about 45, whose name may be LOUIS G---. The latter has a son 22, one who is a school teacher, and one 14 who is very small for his age. He has a daughter 14 and a wife who is a very large woman. Every night he visited Hall's crew member, Sgt Jolly, who had a broken leg. The doctor who was treating Jolly got I/P for all three men.

Robert Lhuerre became interested in the men. He was about 5' 7 " dark hair, fairly light complexion, chief in the Post Office in Bar le Duc father, lived at 25 College Street, French Guiana; he himself had been in the French air force and had been shot down. Robert said that thay would go to Bar le Duc to get a train and then go to Reims, to fly out.

About noon 9 Nov Robert came in a car with another man, said that the Germans were coming, and took the three men about 5 km possibly to Hargevill where they stayed with a young buttermaker about 25, blond wife and baby girl. From there Robert took them by truck to Bar le Due. Howell and Jolly separated from Childs and stayed with a woman about 40, PAULETTE, about 24 who had been in the Hitler Youth and has a boy friend in Germany, last name possibly STROUD. Childs went with a girl M---, about 22, an office worker or typist, parents about 55-60, lived in an apartment house near a canal. PAULETTE and a boy friend visited. HENRY and Berry were also in the city. Two other Americans were supposed to be around.

On 13 Nov he took a 1600 train with Robert, Jolly, Howell. Berry and Henry were to go the the next station to join the train. They got an with two others and a blond woman about 35 at a station which might have been Mussey. They went to Vitry le Francois and the group separated, Henry, Berry, and Childs going with Robert and getting off before Rheims. A man with a car and a younger man, a big Belgian whom they saw several times afterwards, took them to Verzenay where the three stayed with a champagne maker, 27, wife named Raymonde about 25. After two weeks there they were still waiting for the plane. About 27 Nov the big Belgian and some others took the three to Rheims to an apartment house where a woman about 39 was keeping an Englishman, an. American TG and N shot down in Aug. The Englishman was paralyzed from alcohol poisoning. This woman took them to 706 Rue Romains, the butcher shop of Marcel Tavernier, a heavy set man weighing about 220 lbs., German speaking, about 29, son and daughter 8 or 9, wife named Jeanette. They visited a man who worked for the butcher, 55, been a champion bicyclist, wife about 35, son 22. Here they met a Canadian, CHARLES, (Lt LaFleur) 35-38, dark eyes, heavy eyebrows, 5' 6", spoke English with a Brooklyn accent, said that he wanted to get in the FBI after the war, had been taken P/W four times by the Germans, said more about going back by plane. The people upstairs had been to the US; they had a little girl about 14, Cecile. About 5 Dec came an Englishman who had been shot down about a month and had sprained his ankle in landing, walked with a limp. The Canadian was going to take Childs and him to Fismes to catch a plane. The Butcher's wife took them to the station and they went to Fismes with a girl about 24 who operated a radio for a man who had his hq in Rheims. In Fismes they went to a baker, an old soldier who had been gassed in the last war, with three daughters, a cousin, and son Charles working in the bakery. The P and CoP were with the baker's daughters one of whom worked in a bank (Bimone); the other who was married (Lucienne), took in sewing and her husband who was P/W. Ogilvie and Kilmer had stayed in Rheims with a woman whose husband did sabotage work. This man was caught by the Germans. She had apparently been careless and talked. Childs saw Ogilvie and Kilmer every day.

Charles said something about a Lancaster landing and taking out 10 Englishmen. Childs want to a garage where the radio was hidden. Nice and Knopp, E&E, were staying, with a farmer at a house not far away. Childs met a boy Lucien, about 17, and Lucienne who was the girl friend of Charles of the bakery shop. To make the thing more confusing, one of the baker's daughters was named Lucienne. Childs believes that Lucien was the RO whom Nice mentioned was arrested.

On 29 Dec a richman about 55 who lived in the town was arrested and beaten up by the Gestapo. It seemed that he was in an organization which received materials by parachute and that on 27 Dec stuff had been dropped on his farm. He was in a resistance organization to which belonged one of the sisters sheltering Ogilvie and Kilmer. These two were moved to the butcher shop, and Childs went to Nice and Knopp. The Gestapo searched this place, and the Americans narrowly escaped. The night of 31 Dec the three started walking SW, sleeping the first night in a barn, the next with a family who sheltered them. The third day they went through Chateau Thierry and stopped for the night near Montmirail after making a chance contact. They met a young man about 22 who claimed to be a resistance chief, but he suspected them of being Gestapo. He let them sleep in a barn but made then go on the next day because his group was going to be busy blowing up bridges the next day. The men spent the fourth night near les Essarts. NW of SEZANNE where they were taken in by a Belgian woman about 50. The fifth day they went through Sezanne going in the general direction of Bar le DUC. They stopped at a farm.near L'Hermitage, but a woman chased them away, fearing Gestapo. They avoided Fere Champenoise and approached the house of a gendarme, Charles Forney, where the frightened family took them in. They were taken to a polish family at a farm past the chateau to the E. They were visited by an actress from the chateau and were told that a priest was sending a radio message on them. These people also took care of German deserters, it appeared. They were given some story about an English col who had put on German uniform and was somehow going to get them out by plane. (Cf E&E, Sgt Nice).

A man named Henrik was at the place where Childs was staying, and Jon, son about 22, daughter about 25, had had a baby by a German soldier. After a few days a grand chef de resistance came, lived in Vortus, name possibly Boulazer, a protestant, six children, later arrested, beaten up, but did not talk.

About 25 Jan Childs was moved to an N, William Randall, from Wilson, NY, flying Libs, shot down about 29 Dec, walked five days to get to this section. (most likely 1st Lt William A Randall, crew of Lt Heskett et al, E&E). He had been shot down near Soissons. His information on the rest of the creq, was not very accurate, for he thought the TTG P,/W (Risch) and the RO (Simons) with French resistance in March, the rest supposedly killed. Childs was then at MORAINS le PETIT with Marc GOUCHET (questionatble spelling), since taken by the Germans because someone denounced him for bearing airs. Nice and KNOPP stayed elsewhere at a large farm with a general of the last war who had two daughters, 20 and 16.

After about five days someone in Fere Champenoise was arrested by the Gestapo apparently some Jewish person, because the Germans were then having drive on the Jews. Somehow the general seemed to be connected with the difficulties, and it was considered dangerous to have the airmen in the section so about 31 Jan all were moved. Nice and Knopp were to go to a farm near Champineul. Randall and Childs went to Pocancy and stayed with an old man, Rene, 70-80, used to be a chauffeur, and his wife. There there stayed for Feb.

About 2 March somebody was supposed to be coming to the chateau where they were and it was necessary to move. They went to Mme MAUCLIN, who had been extremely helpful to them and insisted that they stay with her. Her husband was a P/W; she had a daughter eight years old and also a little girl of her brother' s.

They met ALBERT, who worked for Mme. Mauclin and who seemed to be the chef de village. Another man who was helpful drove a milk track, the one truck the village. They stayed until about 25 March hearing talk both of a plane and of a trip to Spain. On 25 March they started out on the plane hob going to ETOGES S of EPERNAY with Roger, 5'8", thin face, 180, 29, claimed to know the young resistance chief at Montmirai,l had been a German prisoner and escaped four times before, making it to France, had been held for three months in the S of France on some charge and his mind was a little affected. They stayed with Roger's mother and his sister's little five year old girl. After a week it seemed that the plane plans had fallen through. About 31 March they walked to Chateau Charmoyne where lived a baron whose servants talked him into sheltering the Americans. Somehow hehad a son LEVONET (questionable spelling) who was supposed to be a comte. For several days the man stayed with a guard for the woods. They stayed around until about 9 April. By that time, since no plane had arrived, they began to be waiting for the invasion. They were visited by their friends from POCANCY. The servants of the baron were JACQUES the butler, 22, home from work in Germany; who was engaged to the baron's nurse, Suzanne, and Marianne, the cook.

Something tame up about collaborators arriving, so the men moved to Serge TARTAS, about 27, wounded,in this war, brother in law of ROGER. They slept in a cabin in the woods for a couple of weeks, built a cabin for themselves, and moved to it just before the Germans searched the other one. They were connected with a resistance group which seemed to receive materials by parachute. They stayed in the woods until about 1 May.

After the English raid on Mery le Camp (?), an Englishman joined them, 19, married in March, F/Sgt, on his 29th raid, the last mission of his tour, later caught in uniform, and therfore presumably P,/W. About 15 April the chef of CONGY joined them, hiding out from arrest by the Germans. This chef had a messenger who was a mailman at a town where Randall had been, presumably Villes en Eux. A Candian S/Ldr, 25, George Hill, 14 victories, was picked up in the vicinity and was staying where the chef was. He came for a couple of days, and then he and Childs went to Coney for a couple of days while Rendall, went to a place inere he had been, trying to get a bicycle. They had then decided to go with some young follows to a resistance group farther S and they seem to have got as far as Coulommiers, the whole group. Then Rendall in with an Englishman, whose names seems to be CYMER, together with the chef's mailman, and the latter said that the Germans had captured the chef at Chalons. Randall and the Englishman decided to wait for the plane which was still much talked about; ; Hill and Childs decided to leave for the Spanish frontier. About 0400 on 10 May the latter two started walking S through Choisy en B, Baton Bazoches, St Hilliers, W of Provins toward Bray. They stayed with a shepherd who warned them against trying houses. On 11 May they went through Bray, Compigny, and Pont sur Yonne, to St Martin W of Sens, le Mesures, and on to Subligny where they entrained for Montargis. They went, to Chateau Renard and stopped at a farmhouse S of the town with a man who had been P/W for three years in the last war. They walked to la Chapelle, Nogent, and les Choux, slept in the woods, and went to Nevoy and Gien, Poillx, to Argent by autobus, and on to Bourges, staying, S of the city at a place which may have been Laxenay. The next day they bought a ticket to Limoges and rode to Montlucon. There a priest gave them chocolate, and they took the express train for Toulouse which went by way of Limoges thinking that they could ride through without a ticket. After they had passed Limoges they overheard a Frenchman talking about Pyrenees guides, so they got in touch with him and he agreed to help them and go over with them. They had then to fool the controller on the matter of tickets, so the two evaders got in the latrine. Childs had I/P and Hill did not. When the controller came around, Childs gave in his ticket to Limoges and paid the extra fare. The controller did not realize that two men were in the latrine, so all want well. By another ruse they got Hil out of the station at Toulouse and ate dinner and went to a barber shop. The guide made some contact and learned that they could not move on that day, so they stayed at a hotel. This guide spoke Spanish and English, had bean born in S America, had a French mother, and may have been named Yves.

The next day they went by train to Pau, went to see some Mme at the last house on some street near the railway, and learned that she would not take the guide's word. The evaders made the admitted mistake of not talking to the woman themselves and declaring their identity. The guide could not find any place to stay and decided to go back to Toulouse. On the train the Feldpolizei ran the routine check of I/P. The man became suspicious of the three men together and did not trust their papers nor their story about being Polish workers. The German searched Hill and found his maps and part of his escape kit; Hill then admitted his identity. The German had not made up his mind about the other two but since all three seemed to be together he was taking no chances. Finally Childs admitted that he was an American. At Toulouse the three were taken to a jail, the evaders staying together, the S American separately. They were given no food at all. The next morning the three men who had been controlling the train took the three prisoners to Bayonne. On the way they were questioned for personal data which Childs gave only after Hill said that it was all right. He refused to give sq and gp. Childs had no dog tags, having given them up at the second place at which he stayad.and the Germans made a bit of an annoying point about it without any real threats.They had asked Hill for his tags and he said that they could take them but that he would not give them. The S American seemed to have been caught with a postcard to the Congy helpers which he had supposed to mail for Childs at Pau.

They got off the train at Bayonne, Biarritz, or Anglet, and want to an old hotel like building. Hill was questioned first and came back looking scared; he said later that he had been pushed around. He was still waaring RAF blue trousers. He warned Childs not to let them scare him and suggested they might try some rough house. The interrogator spoke good English and wanted to find out where Childs landed and where he had been.

On 19 May they were taken by car to the Bayonne prison. The prison regulations were signed by one Major Pietz, who seemed to be commandant. This might have been the name of the man in charge whom they saw, 6', stocky, English speaking, been in S America. He told them that they were bandits and asked them how they could prove that they ware airman. The. met BOND, from Mississippi shot down over the Pas de Calais on his fifth raid, arrested about 14 May on the train to Bayonne or Toulouse, apparently accompanied by a Frenchman who was in the same call with him later. The food at Bayonne was miserable and the fleas plentiful.

On 23 May Hill, Bond, and Childs were taken by train to Bordeaux and on to Paris, stopping at Tours, apparently, en route. They seemed to come into he Gare d'Orleans and were taken by car to Fresnes where the three were put in or cell in the W building. They saw some airmen brought in uniform, one man wounded, presumably from a plane crash about 10 miles S of Paris. After being searched in the central office Childs was put in cell 414 on the fifth floors with Lee Johnson, a N from Libs, and Jimmie Laign. About 27-28 May one of the guards struck Johnson when he was shouting for men from New Hampshire. The guard pulled a gun when Johnson looked as if he were going to return equal measure.

In cell 415 was an American sgt shot down the previous Aug, possibly from New Jersey, who in July had already been at Fresnes 100 days and had never been questioned. He had been captured with a British captain who had 2,000,000 francs and was going to Switzerland. With him was a Thunderbolt P from New York whose plane had been set on fire by FW's.

The interpreter for the doctor was blond haired, about 30, buck teeth in upper mouth, one gold tooth or one missing, about 5'7", 180 lbs, had lived in Los Angeles.

In early July Randall and the Englishman with him were brought in, having been caughht in uniform, but they received no different treatment, except for slightly better food. Hill talked them and passed the information on to Childs.

About 29 July a blond chap from Texas was brought in; he had not been down long.

In cell 413 was a Lt from Minnesota brought in about 31 May; about 2 Jan he was joined by a sgt from Ontanna.

Since Fresnes is in allied control a description is unnecessary; one may be found in the notes. The guards were all in uniform. The food was atrocious but it was possible to get Red Cross parcels.

There was a Sgt Steele, who leaked Spanish or Mexican who had been caught near the Swiss border with an American colonel.Apparently he had all of his souvenirs including pictures of helpers. He was suppposed to have been questiioned by the Gestapo about 25 and 30 May and to have had his face slapped so hard his lip was cut. On 3 June he was interrogated again and beaten with a stick while four men stood around with guns, holding a picture a picture and asking him the name. About 8 June he was again questioned, but not mistreated. For some reason Childs did not trust Steele.

There was a Sgt Wagner who had never been questioned and another sgt in near by cell. He had somehow been directed to a deserted house and, apparently according to plan, had been picked up there by the Feldgendarmerie. Wagner understood German and heard one German tell another to be rough to the bastards.

An Australian N who had been in Childs cell had met a British capt who was chief of some French resistance group. He had been in prison three years and escaped. Before his escape he had be an with a PFF man who had been threated with the firing squad.

Childs was never questioned at Fresnes, nor told why he was being held undo such atrocious conditions. He did not know of anyone at Fresnes who had been threatened with being shot as a spy. One sgt was so bitten by fleas that he was sick; he was small anyway, about 5' 4", but was down to about 85 lbs weight.

The Morning, of 10 July Childs. and a number of others were lined up to go to Germany. The doctor's interpreter said that the war was over. Someone had seen the orders and said that they were going to Frankfurt. About 1030 a drunken escort in civilian clothes came, 15 guards for 21 men. The Americans were uneasy because the guards werre so liquored up. They were handcuffed, Childs to Sgt Wagner and they were taken by bus to the Gare du Nord and loaded in the center of a train. Some seven Americans, including, Steele, were in one compartment with a guard. Childs discovered that he could slip his handcuff and let Wagner know that he was planning a break. The train want through Meaux, Epernay, and Bar le Duc. In the darkness, sometime after midnight, while the guard was asleep, Childs went from the inside to the window, which under other arrangements was already open, and dropped out when the train was not going too fast. He left the train somewhere E of Bar le Duc, about 25 km, possibly near Coussance au Bois or Grimaucourt.He went in the rain to Domray au Bois, slept in a barn, approached a woman the next day, told his story, and was told to leave. He started out for Bar le Duc, cutting across fields. The woman ran after him to give him four raw eggs. Another farmer turned him away. He took carrots from gardens and stuffed himself with cherries, walking, allday across fields and along paths in woods. That evening he approached a boy at Meligny le Petit at an old mill near the S end of town. The whole town turned out to feed and equip him.

A Fort crew of 9 men had been shot down there, in April and been killed. Their bodies lay on the ground for some 10 days. Two were buried without coffins, seven with. Sgt Marttin from Rhode Island was one man on the crew. Some woman in the village has dog tags.

On 12 July Childs walked on, fed and equipped, past Montiers. He was taken in for the night at Osne la Val. The woman who sheltered him said that
an American officer who had been shot down in Belgium walked into the town an was turned over to the Germans by the cure; because of that treachery she sheltered Childs. On 13 July, he went to Curel, was warned from Joinville, and spent the night in a barn near Ambonville, without contact.

On 14 July a farmer sheltered him near Lemonthe. The next day he spent with this man's brother, about five miles from a chateau of de Gaulle's, it seems. On 16 July the villagee turned out with food for his departure. That day he got to Vaudremont and spent the night without contact at some place near Mussy. On the 17 he got in with a resistance group with whom he foundsome F/O, Frank, a sgt on his crew, a Scot capt who was a special RO on a Lancaster, and a French Capt named ESPRAT. One Walter Charles had been killed with this group, and Dijon comes in in some connection. A Canadian Capt Jacques, had another resistance group up to the N. One Sgt Walsh, apparently RCAF was there with two crew members.

Childs stayed until 3 Aug in the. woods N of Chatillon. There seemedto have been a parachutage about every night.Childs received battle dress and carried arms. He,Walsh, and the other too crew members, left and stumbled into another resistance group at Les Riceys. Walsh and Childs spent the night at Bagneux. On 4 Aug they went through Ervy, Nury, and Lunart, turning down help from resistance groups. On 5 Aug they reached Dilo, where the Germans were fighting with a resistance group, and stayed in a barn near POURRAIN.

Qn 6 Aug they went to Diximont, Bordes, and back to a resistance hq near La granda Vallee. Some 150 men were there. They were told that some six air men had just left when the fighting began, presumably RAF, RAAF and RCAF. They met John Davitson or Davidson, Rcaf, R02164, St Matin du Certel (Yonne), 5'4", thin, long sandy hair, spoke only a bit of English, claimed to have flown a Mosquito, had been in Italy, this his fourth crash. Childs was suspicious of him and thought him Gestapo. When two more Mosquito man joined the group, he became a Mustang pilot. They went down to Bussy and on to Brion and stayed all night with a farmer just outsid of town. They were told that 150 American parachutists had been dropped to the N on a mission to Paris; the farmer claimed to have sheltered four of the them.

On 7 Aug he went to LaRoche sur Yonne and got the French to take him across. he was sheltered at a chateau to the S. They continued SW to AILLENT and met a contact who wanted to put them with a resistance group, so they decided that they ware a mission to Orleans and just had to be sent on.

On 8 Aug they went on to Charny and spent the night at Melleory, SE of Montargis. They were taken to a farm about four km E. A Dr Solomon was extremely helpful and arranged shelter for a couple of days. Dr Solomon book them to a farm which seemed to be parachutage hq for the section. Then they went to a chateau at, OuChapps SW of Montargis. Dr Solomon and his resistance people were all around. They also met Emile and Maria Hedin, and Maria Duschene, 1 Rue Paul Dupuy, Paris XVI, who later took him through the lines. Three other airmen were there: F/O C Harper, RAF, F/Lt D B Mason, F/O Wilton, an Australian.

About 19 Aug Maria went through the lines to Orleans and told some colonel that the evaders were with him, and on 20 Aug the men were taken through to Orleans. The resistance group were suspicious of Davitson, and he disappeared.

Childs went back to Ninth Air Force Hq and was sent back to England.

DEE [Lt. Donald E.Emerson - debriefing officer]