Messages in Handlebars - The Youngest Resistance Fighter (Paperback)

During World War II, the French Resistance played a vital role in the Allied victory. Supported by Brittain's Special Operations Executive in London, Resistance networks were formed, led and equipped by SOE agents. The Auduc family provided essential support to the network formed around Le Mans, France, by an American OSS agent and a French SOE agent. The Auduc's oldest son, Jean-Jacques, became the youngest Resistance fighter to be awarded the Croix de Guerre. He was also awarded the U. S. Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honor for heroism as a 12 year old. Other members of this heroic family were similarly distinguished. The downing of two B-17's on July 4, 1943, brought the Auduc's face to face with the five surviving U. S. airmen and changed each other's lives forever as the airmen were first sheltered and then repatriated to England. The graves of those airmen who perished were resolutely guarded by French citizens. The Auduc family and their fellow resistants teach us how much people will sacrifice to gain freedom from an oppressor. American, British, Canadian and French worked in cloaked secrecy and harmony to rid the world of the greatest evil in recorded history. U. S. airman Sgt. David Butcher stayed with the Resistance for eight months, training its members in the use of the weapons parachuted to them. Other downed airmen were assisted by underground networks to escape to Spain and eventual repatriation to England. American Army Captain and OSS member Fred Floege twice parachuted into France on missions for the SOE. During his second mission, he organized and led a large group of resistants in the east of France who stymied German movements before and during the D-Day landings. This is a true, previously untold story of undaunted resistance to the Nazis. Alfred Auduc awes with his reckless determination to thwart the Nazis even while imprisoned in concentration camps along with his brother and other resistants from his region. His mother at age 66 harbors a radio transmitter and its operator while receiving munitions drops on her farm. The end of the War is not the end of the Auduc's story. Through them we learn how the Marshall plan helped to restart European's lives. But we also learn how the deep scars of their incarceration pain them throughout their lives. For many years, Jean-Jacques Auduc has belonged to a French association whose mission is to remember Allied sacrifices to liberate their country. Jean-Jacques relates his story to French school children; he proudly carries the American flag at commemorative events; and, he restores and maintains Allied monuments. Jean-Jacques chooses to use his meager funds in this way rather than on a TV set or a computer or the internet or other comforts. Perhaps the proceeds from this book may allow him some comforts in his eighties. My wife, Claire, who translated the several bios which are included in this book, Jean-Jacques, who so much wished to have his family's and friends' stories preserved, and I thank you for your interest. Kendrick Kirk This book has been endorsed by Sir Peter F. Ricketts, the British Ambassador to France.