大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Tahitia Orr of the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library on behalf of Barry Wilson-Law and Mrs. Wilson-Law and has been added to the site with his and her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

[The following is a diary kept by Mrs. Wilson-Law on a trip they took to France]

May 16th-18th 2000

An end to a journey across France to Spain

Tuesday
Dover to Calais. Crossing was good but foggy. Arrived at Calais 3.15am. Barry wanted to go to the graves first so off we went to Strazelle. On the way we had a terrible storm. I was petrified, the rain and hail was so hard it was difficult to see the cars ahead. Found Strazelle with no problem but could not find the cemetery. We then carried on into the town of Vieux-Bergun, found the town centre and Barry went to speak to some workmen who signalled across the road to another man who was very helpful. Barry explained to him why we wanted to find the cemetery and his next comment was 'follow me'. The cemetery was just a quarter of a mile down the road. The man introduced himself as Bernard Luten and told us that in 1998 he had put on an exhibition about the war so he was very interested in Barry's story. After arriving at the cemetery we were taken directly to the graves of Barry's 5 crewmen. Poor Barry, the memories and faces came flooding back and Bernard (lovely man) would not leave Barry's side. He was sharing his grief.

It was nice to see that the graves were well cared for and it appears that there are plants in flower all year round. It started to rain again so we made our way back to the cars and I handed Bernard the book containing the few photos we had of the family which had helped Barry all those years before. He became very excited because he recognized the people in the photos. After a few minutes he said 'follow me' again and we then proceeded to a house in Strazelle. The owner was the daughter of Farmer Gilloots, the man who had found Barry when he had bailed out of his plane and who hid Barry's parachute.

It was an amazing find and after introductions we were welcomed inside. The lady's name was Monique and she disappeared into another room and returned with a large envelope with the words BARRY DAWSON WILSON-LAW on the outside. The contents turned out to be many letters which her father had written to try to find Barry over the years; Ministry of Defence, War Office, etc. etc. and many were returned 'Unable to Trace'. Then in 1954 a letter was received which Barry had sent and over the years had forgotten about, together with photos which he had also sent. Farmer Gilloots passed away on 28th May 1986.

In 1998 they had tried yet again to find Barry for research for Bernard's exhibition but with so many moves in his career, etc. the letter were returned 'Unknown'. Also in the envelope was part of a very worn envelope on which Barry had written his name and address and had given to Farmer Gilloot who had rolled it up and stuffed inside an empty wine bottle to avoid the Germans finding it.

Later, Monique's daughter arrived at the house. She could speak a little English, which was then a great help. Barry was coping very well with the language, but I was not. Out came the champagne and nibbles! They then insisted that we stay for a meal and when we said we must find a hotel, Florence the daughter, began phoning the hotel, booking us in and informing them that we would be arriving late! Amazingly, unknown to Florence, the Hotel Du Nard Bailleul turned out to be one of the places that Barry had walked through all those years ago.

Monique explained that since her and her husband had retired their son Peter now runs the farm and whilst she was left to start preparing the meal, her husband would take us to see the farm. Peter even took Barry to the exact hedge which his Grandad had pulled Barry through and when it was safe had taken him to the barn with only a bottle of wine for company until it was dark when he was then taken into the house. The same barn is still standing but we did not go inside as the cattle had just been brought in for milking and was very muddy and smelly! Neither Peter nor Monique could remember where Barry's parachute had been buried.

On entering the farmhouse itself, Barry thought he recognized the fireplace but could not really remember as most of it had been modernised.

We then returned to Monique's for a meal and started once again going through the items Monique's father had put into the envelope and there were many questions on both sides. At about 10.00pm we decided we had better find our hotel and Peter told us we should follow him and he would take us straight to it. These people have been so very kind to us. The hotel was very old but very nice with all mod cons. It was also very quiet which was exactly what we needed for Barry to be allowed to come down to earth because he was still very much on a 'high' after all the day's excitement.

Wednesday

8.30am Telephone message was left at reception for Barry to contact the Mayor of Biew-Berguin. This was for him to invite us to the Town Hall at 11.30am on Thursday for a meeting. He could speak English, which was very helpful. We thanked him and gratefully accepted! The hotel staff and management were very impressed about our meeting with the Mayor because Mayors in France are held in very high esteem and have the last word on all that goes on in his area; he is always 'Top Brass'!

Barry wanted to visit two towns in which he was hidden for 3 days before the Resistance took him over. They were Wattingnies and Templemars. After getting a little lost trying to find the right road to Wattingnies we pulled over to the side of the road to look at the map and 2 minutes later another car pulled alongside and the driver asked if we had a problem. We told him where we wanted to go and he said, 'Wait a few minutes and I'll be back.' He then returned and said those beautiful words 'Follow me'. We then followed him for 4.5 miles and arrived at exactly the right road. Just how lucky can we be? We thanked him and off he went. We parked and started looking for the house; it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Barry though he remembered one house, the garage, gates, attic windows, etc. so up we go to the front door. The lady of the house had only been in the house for 25 years but after Barry had told her the reason for our trip she invited us in and took him around the house including the attic. Unfortunately, he decided that this was not the house and she was so disappointed, she wanted it so much for it to have been her house!

She then advised us to go to the Town Hall which was across the road which we did and the three young ladies in the office were very helpful and started looking up past records but found that the records did not go back as far as 1944. In the meantime we noticed one of the ladies was speaking on the phone and we later were told that she had arranged for the Mayor to come along to see us and would we return at 2.00pm. She pointed us in the direction of a nice restaurant and after a nice meal we returned at 1.50pm to find the Mayor waiting for us. We were taken to the official meeting room and Registry Office and Mayor told Barry that he had invited an Englishman who lived in the area to join us to interpret for us. Thank goodness as this gentleman spoke so fast even in English I could not understand anything! Barry was finding it even a bit hard going!

The Englishman, Leonard, arrived. Very nice man. He came to France on D-Day, met and married a French girl and never looked back. It was great after Leonard arrived. We all got on very well. Photos were shown and Barry told them about the houses, which he had been put in, plus one on the opposite side of the road that he could remember. They suggested 3 places that it could have been and promptly took us to them. Amazingly, the first one was the exactly the right place but the house opposite had been pulled down and a car park built on which was right where we had parked our car!! It really was creepy! They remembered that the Germans had called at both houses at the time. They also remembered a lady who had lived very near both houses so we were then taken to Leonard's house where he made a few phone calls and located this lady who invited us to visit her as she was only a short walk away. As soon as this lady saw the photographs she became so excited and told us what had happened to the family from the houses and a little girl who was in the photo was still living and she said she would write to her and tell her of our visit. Thank goodness for Leonard and his interpreting! After thanking her and saying our goodbyes, Leonard took back to his place and we collected our car. He then said he would escort us directly back to the motorway and the right junction so once again it was 'follow me'. The motorway was 8-10 miles away and unfortunately because the traffic was so heavy we did not get the chance to thank him and say goodbye. Everyone we have met in the last few days has been so fantastic. We went back to the hotel and had a quiet evening. Poor Barry could not sleep, as his head was so full of faces, places, etc. He really needed to try to relax.

Thursday

Had a late breakfast, found a florist to get flowers for Monique and when we arrived to deliver them she told us that she had also been invited to join our meeting with the Mayor. When we all got there, another lovely surprise was that Peter and Bernard had also been invited. We were all taken to the Mayor's Lounge, and there were introductions all around. The Secretary also spoke a bit of English so between the Mayor and him I was well looked after. Another very old gentleman who turned out to be the gravedigger who had buried Barry's crew, a reporter, and two photographers from the press were also present. In all there were 10 people round the table, food and champagne again. (This part I am getting to enjoy!)

The story was told again but this time from beginning to end. The reporters were writing like mad and asking questions. Barry was asked if he still had the medal? "What Medal?" Barry asked. It appeared that the Farmer Gilloot had stitched a medal for luck (similar to our St. Christopher medal) inside the suit that he had given to Barry to wear but did not tell him! The suit belonged to the farmer who was 5ft 7" and 16 stone whereas Barry was 6ft and 11 stone. Oh my, what he must have looked like walking past the Germans! It is a wonder they did not pick him up looking like a tramp!

I did not want Barry to ask about his crew but he did and this was the worst part of the trip for me. We were told that the Germans shot all 5 as they were coming down in their parachutes. This was such a terrible to shock to him as in his memory they had gone down with the plane. As you can imagine there was not one dry eye in the room. It was terribly emotional and moving. Another bottle of champagne was brought out which was very welcome at this point by everyone.

We have been invited back next year on the anniversary for a civic reception by the Mayor and he said he would be writing to confirm the arrangements. We said our goodbyes and the reporters said they would be forwarding the photos and newspapers to the Mayor who would send copies to us. On to lunch and apologies from the Mayor who could not join us for the lunch as he was flying to Geneva for a meeting that afternoon. We had to catch the boat at Calais at 4.30 so Monique, her husband and Bernard booked a table at a restaurant on-route to Calais in Hazerbrouch for lunch. By this time Barry was feeling better but by the time it came to goodbyes, I was not the only one shedding tears.

Barry did not really want to do this trip in the first place but with gentle persuasion from me he is now very pleased that he did. We could not have got a warmer welcome anywhere. We left France with more friends and documents than we went with to add to our book of memories.

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