A Tribute to Flying Officer Charles E. Anderson: Pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force
Flying Officer Charles E. Anderson
Photo courtesy of Stephen Paul Garnier and AircrewRemembered.com
On May 8, 1945, in Berlin, the German Army surrendered to Allied forces, bringing World War II in Europe at long last to an end. This day is now known as V-E Day. In France, it is a national holiday, and a day of solemn commemoration. It is a day to remember and honor French men and women, as well as those from around the world who sacrificed their lives during the long struggle for freedom from Nazi Occupation.
The number of lives lost during that struggle, most of them young lives, is staggering. In the Battle of Normandy alone, which lasted from June 6-August 30, 1944, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,00 wounded. About 20,000 French civilians were also killed during this battle, mostly during Allied bombings of French villages and cities.
Numbers of casualties in the thousands can sometimes dull comprehension of the countless individual lives lost. This post will honor the story of one young man—a brave and very capable Canadian pilot who played his part in freeing France from four years of Nazi Occupation, and paid the ultimate price. He is buried in a place of honor in a cemetery in southern Champagne—in the village of Essoyes, next to the war memorial.
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Every year on May 8 in Essoyes, the village where I now live, there is a procession from the village square to the war memorial at the church, where a proclamation is read and the war dead are honored. Then, led by the mayor, members of the city council, and the volunteer firefighters, villagers proceed to the cemetery, where flowers are laid at the village’s other war memorial, and a minute of silence is observed to honor those buried there.
Similar ceremonies are held in towns, villages, and cities throughout France, and in Paris, in a televised ceremony, the president lays a wreath at the grave of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe.
One of the men buried in our village cemetery is Flying Officer Charles Edward Anderson, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. Who was this young man who left a loving family and a safe life behind to venture into battle halfway around the world?
What follows is what I’ve been able to gather from Bill Kitson, Officer Anderson’s nephew, and Bill’s wife Rosemary Deans. Born after the war, Bill knows about his “Uncle Chuck” only through his mother’s memories of her beloved older brother, and Rosemary’s dedicated research into his story. Bill and Rosemary shared with me what they have been able to learn about Officer Anderson so I could write this tribute to his service.
As a young man, Charles Anderson wanted very much to serve in the war. When he was 19, he volunteered with the Winnipeg Grenadiers, the local Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. His rank was recorded as “writer” and his trade as “stenographer.”
From there he requested a transfer to the Royal Canadian Air Force. Military records state that his interests were baseball and swimming, and his hobbies were stamp collecting and photography. It was also noted that after the war he wanted to remain with the RCAF, or become a commercial pilot. He was married and the father of a young child, a daughter who was 14 months old at the time of his death.
Charles Anderson and his bride-to-be in Winnipeg. Photo credit Sharon Merchant.
His training report indicated that he was “a good and capable pilot who [is] very anxious to start operational flying.” It also indicated that he was getting bored with the training and just wanted to get in on the action.
And he certainly did see action. On June 6, 1944 he and his squadron participated in one of the most dangerous, most costly, and most successful military operations in history: the D-Day invasion.
The report Officer Anderson filed after returning to England from that action gives a glimpse into just how complicated these situations were, and how much courage, sangfroid, and strategic thinking was required simply to survive:
I took off from Tarrant Rushton [England] at 0140 hours on 6 June 1944 on a special mission over France. After we had reached the target and completed our mission the aircraft was hit by flak and set on fire. I gave the order to abandon aircraft at approximately 0340 hours. All members of the crew got out successfully.
I landed in an orchard north of Bures, about 10 miles east of Caen. I hid my parachute, harness, and mae west, and lay in a bed of nettles throughout the day. I saw a number of German patrols.
At 2100 hours I made my way to a farm, where I was given food. I was then warned of an approaching German patrol, so I headed away from it in a southerly direction, accompanied by a Pole whom I had met at the farm. He indicated that he was a deserter from the German Army. After a time I left him and later met a party of British parachute troops. They took me to their Battalion Headquarters. I remained there that night and was sent to Divisional Headquarters next morning (7 June). I was taken to the beachhead in a car by a war correspondent and sent to the UK.
Two months later, on August 5, 1944, Officer Anderson’s plane again flew into France on a special mission. And his plane was shot down again—this time further into France, in southern Champagne. The bombing target Anderson was aiming for was northeast of Essoyes, between Noé-les-Mallets and Fontette. According to members of the crew, all of whom survived the crash, Officer Anderson’s courageous flying after the plane was hit saved their lives. He himself was killed in the crash, at just 22 years old.
Officer Anderson’s final, fateful mission took place in the midst of a confluence of events that took place in the area surrounding Essoyes in the first few days of August 1944, after the Germans had invaded a very large encampment of the maquis in the forest between Mussy-sur-Seine and Grancey-sur-Ource. There is much more story to tell about that day, and the days that followed. Much of it is told in the excellent Museum of the Resistance of l’Aube not far from here, in Mussy-sur-Seine. I have told bits of on this blog as well, and in future posts I will try to tell more.
The main thing to know is that after much more bloodshed, much more courage and suffering on the part of soldiers and civilians alike, this area was liberated. On August 27, three and a half weeks after the Maquis Montcalm was chased out of the forest near Mussy-sur-Seine by the Germans; three weeks after Officer Anderson’s plane crashed northeast of Essoyes; three days after a brutal massacre of civilians, including 20 children, in Buchères; and just one day after General De Gaulle led his triumphant march of liberation on the Champs Elysée in Paris, General Patton led the liberation of the city of Troyes, the capital city of this region; and the Allied forces continued on, through one more very tough winter, to push the Germans back, and eventually across the Rhine River.
There was a lot more fighting to do before victory would be declared by the Allies nearly a year later, on May 8. Every sacrifice made—by foot soldiers and airmen, by Allies and resistance fighters, as well as by civilians from many walks of life—and every act of courage carried out contributed to this final victory.
Needless to say, without these countless acts of courage, the history of France—and of the rest of the world—might have been quite different.
We all owe them all so much. I have just told part of one man’s story. There are so many more. So many more! They should not be forgotten.
Their courage, and their sacrifices, should never be forgotten.
Bill Kitson at his uncle’s grave in Essoyes, August 2006. Photo by Rosemary Deans.
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Sources:
For numbers of casualties: https://apnews.com/article/d-day-invasion-normandy-france-nazis-07094640dd7bb938a23e144cc23f348c
For details about FO Charles E. Anderson:
https://aircrewremembered.com/anderson-charles-edward.html
https://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/charles_edward_anderson.htm
Private correspondence with William Charles Kitson and Rosemary Deans.
Re massacre in Buchères:
Remembering France Under Occupation
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of France after four years of Nazi Occupation (from 1940-44).
There will be much attention paid to the events that brought about this liberation in the months to come–particularly during the months of June (in commemoration of D-Day) and August (the liberation of Paris and other parts of France).
I’m marking this anniversary in my own way by (finally) watching the incredibly engaging, often difficult-to-watch (but very worth watching) TV series, Un Village Francais.
The series is great preparation for my next class for Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington DC, which is designed to give participants a deeper sense of what those years were like for the French people, by reading and discussing three literary texts. The class is open to anyone: if you’re interested, here’s more information about it, and how you can register.
It was a truly international effort that brought about the liberation of France. In my next post I’ll be telling the story of one brave young Canadian pilot who played a heroic role in that struggle. Stay tuned!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Springtime in Essoyes 2024
We are experiencing the fullness of spring these days. After a very rainy few weeks that was a bit too much of a good thing for the vignerons, and caused the river to be so full that it threatened to flood the center of Essoyes, finally the sun has come out, which is brightening spirits–and at least so far the river has stayed within its banks, pshew!
After all that rain, a little bit of sun has brought about abundant growth. The colza has shot up seemingly overnight (though not really), from knee-length to now over my head, and the fruit trees are in full bloom. How beautiful it all is!
Earlier this week I had the distinct pleasure–and honor–of meeting with a book group in Washington DC, to take questions about my memoir, A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, through the wonders of Zoom. The Women’s Biography book group sponsored by Politics and Prose, my favorite indie bookstore in the US, had chosen my book for their April selection, and wanted to know if I would like to visit their meeting.
I was delighted to do so even though for me that meant getting up at 1:00 in the morning so I could be awake enough to be coherent when I joined them at a little after 7:30 pm their time (and 1:30 am mine!). (Not being a night owl at all there was no way I would have been able to stay awake that long before joining them.) I think they had enjoyed the book (pshew again!) and they asked me such interesting questions and made wonderful comments. They even gave me permission to share a picture of our Zoom meeting so that I could encourage other book groups to do the same.
It is always SO NICE for authors to be able to meet directly with the people who read their books. So if you are reading this post, and you are interested in women’s memoirs, and you belong to a book group who might like to read my book, and have me visit your meeting, please do so! I’d love to have such an opportunity, and I think I have now proved my sincerity and willingness to get up at any hour of the day to meet readers. 🙂
Mother’s Day is coming up soon in both the US and France–and I think the UK and Canada also? And I think A Long Way From Iowa–as a three-generations-of-women fulfilling-the-dream story–is appropriate Mother’s Day reading. I hope some of you will agree.
Until the next post, happy reading (whatever you are reading). And happy spring!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
An Interview with Kate Zirkle, Founder of the American Diary Project
I’m super pleased to be able to share the good news about this wonderful new archive with my readers. Please share this post with your friends, colleagues, family–let everyone know that at last there is a place dedicated to preserving diaries written by “ordinary” Americans. Hooray!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Demystifying the French: A Bicultural Conversation
I’m thrilled that my friend Edith de Belleville will join me online to discuss Franco-American cultural differences, thanks to the wonderful Federation of Alliances Françaises USA.
This is the fourth in their series of Zoom events on Demystifying the French; and I thought it was about time we hear from someone on the other side of the cultural divide. Don’t you agree?
And I can’t think of a better person than Edith to do it. Want to learn more? Click on this link.
It’s February 17, it’s free, and I feel quite sure it’s going to be a lively discussion. I hope you’ll join us!
PS If you missed the live program and would like to see it, you can view the recording here.
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
What Book Groups Are Saying About “A Long Way From Iowa”
Clockwise, starting at left: My sister, one of my first (and most enthusiastic) readers; my sister’s book group in Minneapolis; my friend Noble with her book group in Seattle; more enthusiastic readers outside the Red Wheelbarrow bookstore in Paris, at the book launch.
I’m thrilled that my new memoir, A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France has been selected for discussion by four different book groups. Two in Minnesota (one in Minneapolis, and one in Red Wing); one in Seattle; and one in Washington DC.
March 2023 Minneapolis The first book group to read and discuss A Long Way From Iowa was my sister’s group in my hometown of Minneapolis. And yay! (and pshew!) they liked it! They said the book made them think about their own mothers and grandmothers, and that “it started a discussion of mother-daughter relationships, and demonstrated the strength of ordinary women.”
October 2023 Seattle It was such a pleasure to visit this group! You know how some book groups don’t really talk about books, they mostly drink wine and eat food instead? Well this group does both! I was super impressed with the number of details they remembered from reading the book, and the insightful questions and comments they made. We talked about the book over a wonderful meal; and I answered some of their questions about the book, but also about the publishing process. For example, they wondered why I chose to self-publish. (There is so much to say about this: I need to write a post about it soon. Stay tuned!)
April 2024 Washington DC I will have to get up at 1:00 in the morning in order to join this group, which meets online at 7:30 pm local time in Washington DC. (And no: there is no way I will be able to just stay up that late: ask anyone in my family!) So I will sleep a few hours, and then get up, make myself presentable and coherent, and join the group via Zoom. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to talk about the book with a book group sponsored by Politics and Prose, my favorite bookstore in Washington DC.
One of the things I love most about talking to people who have read the book is learning what kinds of memories/insights/reflections about their own lives, and their own families, were sparked by reading the book.
Will your book group be the next to put A Long Way From Iowa on your list? Please let me know if you are planning to read it, and if so let me know if you’d like me to visit your group. Or just let me know what kinds of conversations were generated in discussing it. I’d love to hear about them!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
A New Year 2024
Our Christmas celebration this year was a wonderful mix of old and new. One of the things that was new was that we had a very special guest we’ve not had with us before on Christmas Eve. My son’s partner, Diane, joined us for Christmas Eve this year, which is for me a very special, even sacred, holiday. And she shared with us a very special tradition from her family, which you see pictured above. When we arrived back from getting a last-minute Christmas tree, she had prepared a 13 desserts-de-Provence array, a tradition passed down in her mother’s Provencal family. We didn’t have 13 different sweets in the house, but Diane managed to gather 10 and arrange them on this pretty wicker platter. The festive tablecloth is one of many things that had been kept in captivity for eight years (!) in a storage locker in Maryland. I was very happy to be able to release the contents of that locker this summer with the help of one of my sons, who was good enough to spend part of his summer vacation helping me with this far-from-fun task. What a great guy!!!
Another item rescued from the storage locker was my beloved piano! (Interesting fact: when you ship things by sea, you do not pay by weight, you pay by volume; at least that is the way it was for me. So I was able to ship the piano to France at a reasonable price, and in fact it cost less than it probably would have to ship it to some other location in the US–with the added advantage of it now being where my son and I can actually play it! And play it we did, and we will continue to do so in the months and years ahead. What a joy to have this wonderful musical instrument back in our home again. And it has somehow made this place feel even more like home than it did before.
There were many other things rescued from the storage locker, none of them nearly as big as the piano, but altogether they filled one “lift van,” which is essentially a wooden crate that holds about 200 cubic feet of whatever you put in there. In my case, not surprisingly, most of the space was filled with boxes of papers (letters, journals, baby books, photos, etc.), and books; but there were also a few trunks and plastic tubs of things like Christmas decorations, many of them handmade by my Swedish grandparents, and some special quilts and the like. Plus assorted miscellaneous things my sons had been separated from for all those years. Some of it was stuff that should have been pitched long ago, but most of it is not; it is “stuff” that is good to have, and to be able to sort through and digitize and/or save. Or just to enjoy.
We don’t emphasize gift-giving in our home, which removes a lot of the unnecessary stress leading into the holidays. But there are usually a couple of special gifts that are given. This year Diane was very happy to receive her very first Christmas stocking (“We didn’t have them, it’s not really a French thing,” she explained.) And I was really happy to receive some beautiful watercolors painted by my older son, created from images he captured in photographs when we were in Sweden this summer. What a wonderful way to keep the memories of a wonderful time spent in Småland; and beautiful additions to the artwork in our home.
Clockwise, starting from upper left: the creche I grew up with; Diane and her new Christmas stocking; Champagne, smoked salmon, pain paillasse, and various French cheeses, color me happy! Phin and Sam planting a new tree; apéro time; new artwork for our home, images of Sweden!
I like to go to Christmas Eve church services when I can, and my sons are very good about going along with me, even though it’s not really important to them. However, this year, due to their busy schedules, we only had about 36 hours when we were all together. So even though they offered to go to mass with me, I said I preferred to stay home this time and just enjoy being together. We had so much to do in such a short time! We had to have special Christmas treats (smoked salmon, Swedish meatballs, champagne, bûche de Nöel); Diane needed to call her (French) family, who were gathered in New York; and we even got in a couple of rockin’ Christmas tunes, with me on piano, Sam on guitar, Phineas on tambourine.
Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions is to read aloud. Sometimes it is How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Sometimes it is a passage from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, or The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; sometimes it has been A Child’s Christmas in Wales. This year I read aloud the Christmas letter I had written to friends and family after the last Christmas we had in Brooklyn, when my sons were four and seven. Then we watched Charlie Brown Christmas, which offers the important (to me) recitation of the Christmas story as told in the Book of Luke, by sweet little Linus. If I get to hear that beautiful passage read aloud at least once on Christmas Eve, for me the essential meaning of the holiday is acknowledged and honored, and I am happy. (As Linus says: “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”)
We’ve started another new tradition in our family in the past couple of years, of planting a tree on Christmas Day. This started the year we lost 32 spruce trees in one year (!) due to an insect infestation that is devastating this type of tree all over Europe. That year it felt somehow not quite right to buy a dead tree! So since then we have been buying living evergreen trees that are not vulnerable to this destructive little insect, and have been planting one, or more, each year.
So now we all arrive at a New Year, here on planet Earth. It’s certainly not hard to imagine many ways in which it could be better than the one we’re just finishing up. Let’s all see what we can do, each of us, to make that happen–shall we?
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Paris Is Always a Good Idea…
That famous line, attributed to Audrey Hepburn, is actually a line she spoke in the 1954 movie Sabrina. So it is perhaps more accurate to give credit for the sentiment to Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor, and Ernest Lehman, who wrote the screenplay. (Let’s give some credit to screenwriters here! 🙂 ).
In any case, it is a very true statement, at least for me it is. (My most-often stated feeling about Paris is that all things being equal, I am always just a little bit happier when I am there.)
And so I was very lucky–and very happy–to spend a few days there last week. I don’t need much to make me happy when I’m in Paris; it’s enough to just be there, sitting in a café, reading, writing, sipping on a café crème or a vin chaud, surrounded by French conversation. Enjoying the warmth inside, watching the world go by outside the café windows; appreciating the reflection of lights on rainy streets and sidewalks, the occasional colorful umbrella passing by.
But this time I was also lucky to be able to spend time catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and even participate in a special event at the wonderful Red Wheelbarrow, my favorite bookstore in Paris. Penelope Fletcher had asked me to introduce Cathy Yandell, who would be reading from her new book, The French Art of Living Well: Finding Joie de Vivre in the Everyday World, and I was delighted to do so. Cathy is a scholar of French literature (Renaissance poetry to be precise), and professor at Carleton College in Minnesota. Her book is a wonderful blend of stories about her experiences in France over a period of many years as a student, a teacher, a parent of American children in French schools. It also includes appreciation of and really interesting information about French literature, art, music (including contemporary and pop music); and her personal reflections on French ways. Finally it is a cultural guidebook that offers readers great ideas for off-the-beaten-track adventures in France, from thalassotherapy in Royan to the hammam in the Grand Mosque of Paris. (And she doesn’t just tell you you can do these things; she does them and tells you what the experience was like.)
The selections of the book Cathy read that night included a reflection on what Montaigne would have to say about the concept of joie de vivre and a very funny story about how she learned some choice French vocabulary in an episode of (thankfully controlled) road rage between her French “brother” and another French driver on a mountainous road in the south of France.
So. You see what I mean? This book offers intellectual stimulation; valuable information about interesting things to do in France; and it is also just plain fun to read.
Left to right: 1) Penelope Fletcher introducing me; 2) Me introducing Cathy; 3) Cathy Yandell, left, me, right. Photos courtesy of Mark S. McNeil.
I also had the chance while I was there have tea with another author friend, Penelope Rowlands, who curated the wonderful collection of essays, Paris Was Ours. Having tea (or in my case, latte) at Ladurée on the rue Bonaparte is one of those delightfully civilized experiences that momentarily places you in another world altogether. Have you ever seen such a beautiful latte? Stirring the foam felt like an aesthetic crime! At least I captured the artistry before destroying it.
A couple of days later, it was time for me to return to Essoyes. As I waited on the platform for my train to pull into Gare de l’Est this magical vision of what train travel can be glided into the station…and captured everyone’s attention and admiration. You would think that the people on the platform had been transported back to childhood, where a sense of wonder at the beauty of the world shows so openly on the faces of children. We all watched, and dreamed, and appreciated–and who knows? Maybe some of us will be lucky enough to travel on that train one day…
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Home again
My US book tour was a 49-day, whirlwind cross-country trip that offered the opportunity to introduce A Long Way From Iowa (AND Demystifying the French) to readers across the country, from Mystic, Connecticut on the East Coast to Seattle on the West.
Also (and equally important for me) it gave me the chance to reconnect with friends and family I hadn’t seen in some cases for more than five years. That was wonderful!
Now I am back in France, back in my quiet little village in Champagne, and I am beginning to reorient to a totally different pace, and a totally different way of life–but it is going to take a while. I’m not ready yet to write about the still-tumbling thoughts I have about the experiences I had on that cross-country journey, and the things I noticed along the way. One day I will be, and this is where you will find my thoughts and reflections about it when that time comes.
In the meantime I need to focus on building the momentum created during the tour, during which I found that every group of people I met with came up with unique and interesting ways of responding to A Long Way From Iowa, and asked such interesting questions about it. It’s wonderfully rewarding to know that people have read it and had it spark thoughts and memories about their own lives, their own families, their own grandmothers and mothers! And I hope that some of the conversations I had with the people who came to my events will encourage others to write their own stories too. It’s a wonderful thing to do.
Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays, is this week. This year I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my sons in Paris. And giving thanks for so many things, too many to name here. Here’s wishing you and yours a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving wherever you are. And all good things in the weeks ahead.
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
My favorite reads from 2023
If you are an avid reader and you don’t already know about Shepherd.com, you need to!
This is a wonderful new place to discover amazing books, from (and by) some of your favorite authors.
And Ben Fox’s latest idea is asking members of this community of readers and writers to choose their three favorite reads from 2023.
If you click here, you’ll find out why I chose the books I did.
Wishing you happy reading in the week ahead!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 