WAITING & HOPING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 February 1942, Page 4

WAITING & HOPING

A FRENCH MOTHER WRITES TO DE GAULLE. BITTER FEELING AGAINST NAZIS. When the “Champoilion” drew up to J the quay at Beyrouth, at the time of the return to France of French soldiers who had been fighting in 'Syria, a hand holding a letter was thrust through a port-hole. The letter was addressed to General de Gaulle, and it was taken to the General’s headqaurters. It read as follows: “Marseilles, August 27, 1941. General: This is from a woman of France who sends you all her wishes and expresses her hope that she may one day see France again itself. Allow me to express to you all my admiration. You may be proud of your work, for it stands for the hope of all the mothers of France, who count on you and our dear Allies. They, too, are not forgotten, for without them what should be be? “I have four children, General, three ■ girls and a boy. My children and I always have a bit of chalk on us, and ‘V’s’ are not lacking on our road to and from work .... We are. all de \ Gaullist, from the depth of our hearts. : Every night we gather round the wire- ; less to listen to London. We listen to ( no other station. “When we hear aeroplanes we are • delighted, for it seems that you are ar- j riving. When that day comes, what joy < for us all! Nothing can repay you for < what you have done for so many poor j people who suffer from hunger, for it is the German soldiers who take everything from us and not the blockade that is responsible for the food shortage, as they would like us to believe. “Here all the women wear a large safety pin, or English pin, as it is called, and our enemies in the streets can see it a long way off, and it makes them all mad. i “May God give you his aid in your s just cause. We all pray for our libera- s tors. Long live de Gaulle! Long live t England! Long live America and all these who fight for Free France!” j