and he waited for the noise to die down.
When he again trilled out a trumpet call, every Frenchman present grew
silent and listened with puzzled eyes. The tune was one they didn’t
know.
Suddenly, from the back of the crowd, men’s voices began to sing the
words.
André’s heart gave a great leap. But he kept on playing. The voices
were growing louder. The men were moving toward the green.
André swept into the chorus, and powerfully the American words,
punctuated by clapping hands at the proper time, swelled out over the
crowd.
A French voice took up the words. Another and another, until the entire
gathering was singing.
Many of the Americans stood beside André now, and Slim, his hard hands
beating the clap-clap of the chorus, sang the loudest.
“_Deep in ze ’eart ohff Tayxsas_,” sang the French.
“_Stars at night are big and bright,_ (clap-clap, clap-clap,) _Deep in
the heart of Texas,_
_Remind me of the one I love,_ (clap-clap, clap-clap) _Deep in the
heart of Texas,_”
sang Slim and Weller and Captain Dobie, dragging out the last long
notes at the thought of home.
[Illustration]
André dropped his trumpet to his side.
As the babble of happy voices rose and became bedlam, Captain Dobie
shook hands with the French officers.
André started at the sight of a Royal Air Force uniform and ran across
the square.
Standing beside Marie, Ronald Pitt was laughing with the Maquis over
the escapade of the strange “nun.”
Ronald grabbed André’s arms and swung him merrily around.
“How did _you_ get here, Ronald?” André asked.
“Well,” Ronald replied, “I’m on my way to the British lines to
chauffeur a general around--”
“Oh-ohh,” André giggled.
“I saw this celebration going on down here,” Ronald Pitt went on, “and
I wanted to see what was happening in Ste. Mère. So I landed in a field
and trotted over--and look what I found!”
Slim and Weller joined them then.
“Didn’t we tell you we’d come?” demanded Weller.
Softly, a song began to tremble from different points among the crowd.
André lifted his trumpet and began to play.
And swelling mightily over the battered roofs of Ste. Mère rolled out
the song of freedom that is the voice of France--the “Marseillaise.”
Everyone sang and many wept.
After that, the gathering broke up and lunch baskets were opened. Mme.
Gagnon beckoned her enlarged family party together under the shade of
a wide chestnut tree. Lunch was spread out. Between them, she and Mme.
Lescot had brought food enough for all.
Captain Dobie and André sat side by side.
“You will return to visit us after the war?” André asked shyly.
“I certainly will,” promised the captain. “I shall come back whenever I
can. I won’t be comfortable unless I know what you’re up to.”
André laughed. “And,” he said, “I shall go to America some day to see
that you have got that leg mended.”
“_Vive les Americains!_” shouted Raoul, who had mysteriously become one
of the group.
“_Vive la French!_” shouted Weller.
La Fumée heard them, and put her muzzle down comfortably into the water
pail.
_About the Author_
Clayton Knight was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up just in
time to become an airplane pilot with the famed Lafayette Escadrille
in World War I. He also had a box seat for World War II in which he
served in every important theater of war as an Associated Press special
correspondent. His lifelong, active interest in aviation has earned him
many honors and taken him to almost every corner of the earth, most
recently on a round-the-world trip collecting material for an official
history of the Military Air Transport Service. It has also provided
him with fascinating material for a distinguished list of books and
magazine stories that have made him well known both to young people and
adults, not only as an author but an artist of uncommon distinction.
_About the Historical Consultant_
Few experts are as well qualified as MAJOR GENERAL RALPH ROYCE to
pass on the merits of a book about the Normandy invasion. As Deputy
Commander of the Ninth Air Force, he was the senior air officer afloat
during the invasion of France and served aboard the cruiser _Augusta_
with Admiral Kirk and General Bradley. He accompanied General Bradley
to shore at Utah Beach and, in the days that followed, reconnoitered
the surrounding country very thoroughly, visiting many of the towns
mentioned in this book. In General Royce’s words, “Mr. Knight’s book
brings back very vividly the life that we lived during those hectic and
exciting days in June, 1944, and portrays extremely well the life of
the countryside during those early hours of the invasion that led to
the freeing of France from the yoke of the invader.”
_WE WERE THERE BOOKS_
1. WE WERE THERE ON THE OREGON TRAIL
By WILLIAM O. STEELE
Historical Consultant: PROFESSOR RAY W. IRWIN
_Illustrated by_ JO POLSENO
2. WE WERE THERE AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
By ALIDA SIMS MALKUS
Historical Consultant: EARL S. MIERS
_Illustrated by_ LEONARD VOSBURGH
3. WE WERE THERE AT THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
By ROBERT N. WEBB
Historical Consultant: PROFESSOR LOUIS L. SNYDER
_Illustrated by_ E. F. WARD
4. WE WERE THERE WITH BYRD AT THE SOUTH POLE
By CHARLES S. STRONG
Historical Consultant: COLONEL BERNT BALCHEN, U.S.A.F.
_Illustrated by_ GRAHAM KAYE
5. WE WERE THERE AT THE NORMANDY INVASION
By CLAYTON KNIGHT
Historical Consultant: MAJOR GENERAL RALPH ROYCE, U.S.A.F., RETIRED
_Illustrated by the Author_
6. WE WERE THERE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH
By BENJAMIN APPEL
Historical Consultant: COLONEL HENRY W. CLARK, U.S.A., RETIRED
_Illustrated by_ IRV DOCKTOR
_In Preparation_
7. WE WERE THERE WITH THE PONY EXPRESS
By WILLIAM O. STEELE
_Illustrated by_ FRANK VAUGHN
8. WE WERE THERE WITH THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS
By ROBERT N. WEBB
_Illustrated by_ CHARLES ANDRES
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.