ESCAPE FROM FRANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 December 1941, Page 4

ESCAPE FROM FRANCE

AN ENGLISHMAN’S EXPERIENCES.

SYMPATHY AND AFFECTION.

At the last monthly tea in London of Britishers who formerly lived in France Mr J. Coneil, who lived in Rouen where he was surprised by the invasion, told of his experiences in escaping from France. “My wife and I received nothing but sympathy from our French friends,” he said, “sympathy and affection. When I was waiting for a telephone call to Madrid to arrange about leaving France, a young Frenchman, as soon as he realised I was English, came up to me and took both my hands. “Some friends got up a party for myself and my wife at another place. On the table were British and French flags. Each dish on the menu had an English name. At the end of the dinner my host's stood up and all drank to King George VI and British Victory. Incidentally, the dinner was given to us on the King’s birthday., “We were, on another occasion, dining in a restaurant with some French friends when an itinerant musician came in to play. He had been round with the hat, but as he reached the door he heard our English accent. He came-back to our table, unslung his accordeon and softly played ‘God Save the King.’ There was silence at every table, followed by applause as soon as he had finished. He hurried out into the night—he did not want it to be thought he had played our national anthem to increase the collection had made. “At the cinema in Toulouse a filna was shown in which, incidentally, the British national anthem was played, ‘just a few bars. The whole audience broke into loud cheers, in spite of the presence of German officers. “Total strangers came and shook hands with us on many occasions. Young men asked how they could get to England to join General de Gaulle. Almost everyone asked us to make sure to tell all our friends when we got home that Vichy is not France. One young girl told us she had written to General de Gaulle and wanted us to ask the Free French in London to tell her by radio broadcast* whether her letter had reached the General. “An English friend of ours who had to wait in a long queue was sent by other women waiting to the head of the queue when they learned she was English. In the shops we were constantly shown preference. “All the French are convinced that only one thing can save their country, and that is an Allied victory. We found love and affection everywhere and love and affection await us when we can get back again to our home in France where we were so happy among our French friends.”